There have been numerous doubts on the Philippine War on Drugs campaign’s effectiveness. Just recently, Billionaire Philanthropist Richard Branson appealed to newly-elected Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to stop his ‘bloody war on drugs’ which claimed hundreds of lives since he took office on June 30, 2016.
The kill list
According to Inquirer's 'Kill Lists' statistics, there are an estimated 524* drug-related killings from June 30 to August 4. There is no point blaming this event to the newly-elected President since the alleged killings already happened ever since he took office. However, he made a statement that he doesn't care [source] about the rising number of drug-related killings reported which made Human Rights activists furious and caught the attention of the United Nations.
They were all warned
Even during the campaign period of the Philippine elections, Duterte kept on campaigning his promise to eradicate drugs and crime in the country, adding a statement that it will be bloody [source]. Duterte's supporters on social media have expressed their solid support to the President's War on Crime and Drugs in the country stating that there will be no more death rise if they just stop using or selling drugs. The mentality of his supporters has caused alarms to those who did not vote for him.
But no one can blame the 16 million voters that helped Duterte achieved a landslide victory during the elections. They have witnessed everyday crimes and failures of the government that sparked a revolution that led to the defeat of the strong Liberal Party with standard-bearer Mar Roxas.
Let's go over the statistics
In the U.S. War on Drugs statistics alone:
The government spends $51 billion annually on the efforts to eradicate drugs with nonviolent arrests over 1.53 million people and with 70,000 number of people killed in Mexico's Drug war since 2006. And each year, over 31, 758 number of people died due to drug overdose.
And in the Philippine, according to the 2014 statistics by the Dangerous Drugs Board:
There were a total of 4,392 reported drug cases in the country. But in July of 2016 alone, over 114,833 drug suspects and still counting have surrendered to the government under its 'Oplan Tokhang' campaign to wipe out illegal drugs and criminality in the country.
According to Interaksyon:
"Under 'Oplan Tokhang', police station commanders will ask barangay captains to submit a list of residents who are into illegal drugs, whether as pushers, dealers, users or couriers." To be honest, this is the first time in history that a very large number of people have participated in the campaign against drugs and willingly surrendered to the government. But the number of drug suspects have caused an alarm to the nation as well, is Philippines becoming a narco-state?
With a very high number of reported surrenders, it is not a surprise that Duterte's campaign was very effective. Most Filipinos were not shocked of the number of drug users in the country, it is public knowledge that drugs can easily be bought on the streets and drug users have become younger and younger as years pass by. This is a very alarming issue and reflects the failure of the past administration to eradicate or lessen drugs and crime rates in the country.
With the statistics alone, we have understood why the support of the Filipinos on the campaign against Crime and Drugs have not paved but gets stronger as revelations that Duterte will name public officials involved in drugs. [source]
How effective will it be?
The world knows how many times nations have failed to eradicate crime and drugs, but Filipinos have not lost faith to their President. A very large number of people have willingly surrendered, police generals who are alleged protectors of drug lords named, and 'narco' officials from congressman to mayor will be named in a few days. The Philippines is actually making a progress even though the campaign is just going on its second month. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has promised to eradicate drugs in just six months and the pressure is all into his administration.
But truth be told, the progress in the Philippines was imminent in the past administration. People have seen hope in the changes and the good news being published and reported on television. As far as humanitarianism goes, the country is obviously going into a wrong path. Well, you can't blame the Filipinos who are sick of seeing children raped and innocent people being murdered because of people who were influenced by drugs. They have to choose which rights should prevail, the victims or the criminals? And we all know which rights the Filipinos have chosen.
Let's see where it goes, but I can tell it won't be effective one-hundred percent, but it's a good start if my opinion is asked.
Comments
Post a Comment