EDITORIAL - A worsening problem

Give him credit for candor. During a campaign rally for administration candidates over the weekend, President Duterte admitted that the drug trafficking problem has so worsened that the Philippine National Police is “on the brink of surrendering.”

Officials of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said the President’s statement must have been prompted by the series of drug busts during which the PDEA seized billions of pesos worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

Whether the President was just venting his frustration in public or admitting, as critics say, that the drug war has been a failure, his statement shows the challenges posed by governments in fighting the drug menace. And it emphasizes the need for a review of the way the campaign is being carried out.

Eradicating the drug problem was the President’s most memorable promise when he campaigned for the highest position in the land in 2016. With his bailiwick of Davao City as template, he even set a timetable for accomplishing the feat within six months from assuming office.

Skeptics said it’s far more complicated to achieve the gains he made as Davao City mayor on a national scale. The skeptics proved correct, and the President had to revise his timetable, explaining that he underestimated the extent of the drug menace. As deaths piled up in his bloody campaign, he extended his self-imposed deadline, and eventually admitted that the drug menace would be around even after he steps down from office.

Even rich countries face tough challenges in stopping an illegal but highly lucrative trade. The narcos of South America have shown how massive the profits can be from drug trafficking, and how a shock-and-awe campaign of killing drug personalities can have only limited success.

The Philippine government has announced a recalibration of the drug war, with greater focus on large-scale traffickers, and with drug abuse treated as a public health problem. The President’s candid assessment of the extent of the problem should lead to further changes in the way the war is being waged.