EDITORIAL - Hit them where it hurts

After the killing of thousands of drug suspects, most of them alleged to be neighborhood pushers, the administration has announced a “harsher” and recalibrated war on illegal drugs. What this means exactly is just starting to take shape. Philippine National Police officials have said the recalibration entails focusing on high-value drug traffickers, including politicians.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government is reportedly set to release next week a list of about 80 so-called narco politicians who are running in the May elections. Presumably, the identification will be backed by formal indictments for drug offenses.

Alongside the public shaming, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has partnered with the Anti-Money Laundering Council to make drug traffickers truly feel the pain of their crime: in their finances. The PDEA and AMLC aim to stop drug dealers from laundering their dirty money into legitimate businesses and even for entering politics.

As reports have shown, even incarceration in the New Bilibid Prison is not enough to stop drug convicts from continuing with their illegal but hugely lucrative business. Using cell phones and now the Internet, certain convicts – according to reports reaching the Department of Justice – continue to turn the NBP into drug trafficking central.

What else can the state do to such drug dealers – put them in prison? Cruel and inhuman punishment is prohibited under the Constitution. But it’s perfectly legal for the state to prevent anyone from profiting from crime – whether it’s the perpetrator himself or his relatives and friends.

So the partnership between the PDEA and the AMLC is a step in the right direction. They should also bring in the Bureau of Internal Revenue to give the effort more teeth. Congress has stubbornly resisted any proposal to pass a law against racketeering. In the absence of such a law, a coordinated crackdown involving the AMLC, the BIR and PDEA should produce some of the desired results.

This effort could be enhanced if Congress would grant President Duterte’s wish for the easing of bank secrecy laws in tax fraud cases. But even while waiting for this to happen, the PDEA and AMLC can proceed with their partnership. This campaign can produce the evidence needed to go beyond simply classifying certain individuals as narco politicians. Hit them where it hurts, in their pocketbooks; go after their ill-gotten wealth. See to it that drug trafficking does not pay.