‘Narco State Phl’

Many people have allowed themselves to be distracted by press releases, press conferences and the alleged spat between Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Benhur Abalos and Chief of the Philippine National Police Rodolfo Azurin.

Much of what is being discussed and presented to the public is that the SILG and the Chief PNP are at odds on what the real story is behind the P6.7 BILLION worth of shabu reportedly weighing 990 kilos. Each side has come out with their version of the story in their individual press conferences. The issue revolves around an alleged “cover-up,” suggesting that the PNP operatives wanted to celebrate the major bust but hide the fact that a member of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group was involved and among the principal suspects.

That is the “sanitized” version. The other view is that some operatives were covering up the arrest for criminal motives. While the Chief PNP understandably wants to defend his people and reputation, the presence of large quantities of drugs, the impunity of assassins that have attacked and killed government officials, the return of drug pushers and users in different localities under his watch, all tell a different story about the PNP’s reputation.

The Chief PNP wants to highlight the successful drug busts conducted by the PNP and insists that the SILG focus on that. I, for one, would like to focus on the P6.7 billion worth of shabu but not to praise the PNP, but instead to draw everybody’s attention to the fact that these large quantities of illegal drugs that are worth billions of pesos place the Philippines under the category of a Narco State.

We are no longer talking about grams, ounces, joints or foils. We are no longer talking about drug users and street pushers operating in certain hot spots. Drugs are being peddled all over the Philippines. In his recent press conference, the Chief PNP even read the list of busts all over the country, indicating that the drug problem is still nationwide.

The amounts are staggering: last year’s big bust was for 229 kilos worth P1.58 billion. The latest 990 kilos was worth P6.7 billion. Those are just two big busts that were successful and headline worthy. But there have been a number of other “smaller” busts worth millions to hundreds of millions of pesos that got buried in the inside pages of the news. Based on volume and value, the big-time drug dealers are clearly operating with impunity!

Before the recent controversy over the “990 cover-up,” the Chief PNP himself supported the call of the SILG for high ranking PNP officials to submit their courtesy resignation in order to fast track ongoing investigations and to clear the innocent. Clearly, the Chief PNP knew that his “house” was not in order. So why didn’t the Chief PNP support an all-out impartial investigation of any possible wrong-doing in the 990-K bust?

Even former president Rodrigo Duterte has said that there were police generals, ninja cops, etc. who were involved and in control of the illegal drug operations in the Philippines. There have been encounters, mis-encounters among the police, the NBI vs police, even between US-DEA and locals in past administrations. Unfortunately, we rarely hear or read of what ever happened to those arrested or implicated.

Apparently, nothing has changed, except that the volume and value of illegal drugs currently available in the market are equal to the amount of money needed to fund government projects. That is why I am calling everyone’s attention to the fact that the Philippines is now a Narco State.

The bad news is that post-Duterte administration, the enablers and protectors of drugs are back. Retired law enforcers who failed to stop drug lords and drug tiangges have come out of retirement and are holding advisory or consultant positions in the PBBM administration.

Two sources have told me that when Benhur Abalos was appointed DILG secretary, a couple of X-GEN as in Ex-Generals were given appointments by a former Malacañang official, with the sole responsibility of monitoring and pre-empting activities and plans of Benhur Abalos. It seems that a faction had wanted someone else at the DILG in order to gain the support of and have political control over local officials all over the Philippines.

It is clear that greed for money and political power are driving certain law enforcers and politicians to oppose any effort to rebuild a professional PNP that has integrity. The presence of coddlers, protectors or plain selfish individuals looking out for themselves makes the process ten times harder. In turn, the continued presence of corrupt high-ranking officials in the PNP makes it impossible to stop the proliferation of drugs in the Philippines.

Ironically, the Philippines seems to stand alone in the category or situation compared to our regional neighbors. Perhaps it is because in such countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, their view of and attitude towards illegal drugs, particularly large volumes and values, is a lot harsher and more permanent. They don’t have press conferences, they don’t have public spats, they don’t have debates or veiled threats. They simply try you in public in the shortest possible time and then they hang you!

Secretary Benhur Abalos certainly faces one of the most difficult challenges in his life and career as a public official.  Cleaning up or totally rebuilding the PNP will seem almost impossible, but he is now at a point where he cannot afford to blink or have second thoughts. When he first asked PNP officials to submit their voluntary resignation, the response was an open act of destabilization aimed at Abalos but one that affected the Marcos administration.

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