The drug war

Who is more vile: the drug smuggler or the cokehead?

Based on the penalties under our laws, it’s the drug smuggler, by a mile.

In the exchange of drug-related accusations between the feuding Marcos and Duterte clans, the alleged cocaine user is ahead in the court of public opinion, except perhaps in Davao City.

The issues raised in the “drug war” that has erupted between the Marcos and Duterte clans are not new. Rodrigo Duterte, in the twilight of his presidency when he was hoping to field either his super alalay or his daughter as his successor, had fulminated against the candidacy of “a very weak leader” who is “using cocaine.”

Duterte conceded that the candidate who has “the name… might win hands down.” While Duterte did not name names, all eyes were on Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has in fact been hounded by allegations of drug abuse since his days as the prince during the conjugal dictatorship.

As I have previously written, substance abuse should be confronted as a public health problem. The criminals are the major drug dealers; drug users aren’t vermin requiring extermination. I know many people who did drugs for recreational purposes or out of youthful experimentation. Some got hooked on drugs but later became responsible citizens with solid families.

It helps when people come out in the open to narrate how they kicked the habit. Barack Obama admitted smoking marijuana and occasionally snorting cocaine, with the message that if he had not ended his substance abuse, he would not have become president of the United States.

You can easily tell if a person is high on drugs. I’ve never seen Bongbong Marcos looking high, at least in public. But he’s no Obama; if he ever used illegal drugs, BBM doesn’t look like he’s about to talk about it, at least not while he’s president. Especially with his enemies salivating to have him undergo drug rehab – a prolonged process – so Vice President Sara Duterte can take over as acting president.

BBM supporters scoff: Ano sila, siniswerti? You should be so lucky!

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When Duterte specifically called BBM “bangag” or a “drug addict” in January this year, the President hit back, saying “it must be the fentanyl.”

Unlike BBM, however, Duterte is forthright about his drug use, disclosing himself when he was president that he had used fentanyl as a painkiller prescribed by his doctor, and that the effect of the powerful opioid was like being “on cloud nine.” I know someone with lupus who gave a similar description of the effect of the drug, which was prescribed to the person for only a short period because fentanyl is highly addictive and has killed too many abusers.

It’s unclear if Duterte has stopped using fentanyl for his painful afflictions including the incurable Buerger disease and Barrett’s Esophagus.

BBM’s remark about Duterte’s fentanyl use didn’t stick. But it escalated the “drug war” between the two clans, which would culminate in the resignation of VP Sara from the Cabinet.

With the International Criminal Court (assisted by the Interpol) now closing in on Rodrigo Duterte plus five top police officials, two of them still in the service, over the killings in his war on drugs, his camp has doubled down on the drug accusations, challenging all elective officials from the president down to undergo a hair follicle test for substance abuse.

It would actually be interesting to find out who would test positive. Among the thousands of people who were arrested, charged or executed in Duterte’s war on drugs were elective officials, including barangay captains, councilors, and a smattering of higher ranking local government executives.

But because there is a not-so-hidden political agenda in the call for drug testing, and the obvious target is BBM, this proposal is bound to go nowhere.

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In the meantime, the super coalition in the House of Representatives led by VP Sara’s arch enemy has revived accusations linking her husband Manases Carpio and her brother Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte to the smuggling of tons of illegal drugs in the previous administration.

Customs broker Mark Taguba was the first to hurl the accusations following the interception of 600 kilos of shabu valued at P6.4 billion in Valenzuela in 2017. Taguba ended up being indicted for drug smuggling plus multiple violations of customs and tariff laws. He later apologized and cleared Paolo Duterte and Carpio, saying their names were merely mentioned to him by members of a so-called “Davao Group” linked to drug deals.

This time, a former intelligence officer of the Bureau of Customs, Jimmy Guban, told a House “quad committee” that Paolo Duterte, Carpio and Chinese businessman Michael Yang were the real “owners” of the shabu shipment.

We remember Yang as the alleged facilitator of the multibillion-peso sweetheart deal awarded by Rodrigo Duterte to Pharmally Pharmaceuticals at the onset of the killer COVID pandemic. Yang, who served as Duterte’s economic adviser, is believed to be currently in China.

Guban said he was warned in the previous administration not to implicate the three men, all of them close to the president at the time. Coming to the Dutertes’ rescue, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa intends to conduct his own grilling of Guban.

VP Sara, in a chance interview in Davao City on Saturday, said she would allow her husband and brother to answer the accusations themselves.

The only positive aspect in this exchange of sordid accusations is the possibility that some truth might come out about the illegal drug problem in this country.

As for the warring clans, what can we in the peanut gallery say except may your tribes decrease.