by Karina Santillan (Manila) and Tony Robinson (London)
Illegal drugs are an issue that’s wider than the drug smugglers and cartels who bring them into the country and the corrupt police officers who protect them for a slice of the pie. It’s deeper and more wide ranging than that, affecting communities through violent crime and it is generally the poorest and most disenfranchised sectors of society who suffer the most.
And it’s also about addiction. Addiction to the money that can be made from dealing in drugs and addiction to the momentary escape from reality people look for, living in surroundings and a world that keeps them anxious, insecure and confused.
Drama on YouTube reveals corruption at the highest levels of the police
Despite ex-president Duterte’s all-out war against drugs during his term, the illegal drugs trade is alive and well in the Philippines. Congress and the Senate have recently been holding fact-finding investigations over the October 8, 2022 drug bust operation where authorities found more than a ton of methamphetamine, known locally as shabu, worth more than 7.8 billion pesos (roughly 140 million USD). And, the sessions were and are being aired on Youtube for anyone to watch.
All this brouhaha over this particular raid reveals some of the reasons why the drug trade is still very much around.
On October 8, 2022, the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG) headed by Brigadier Gen. Narciso Domingo conducted an operation that resulted in the seizure of more than 990 kilos of shabu found inside the building of the Wealth and Personal Development (WPD) Lending Inc. in Tondo, Manila.
It turns out that the WPD Lending Inc. is owned by a police officer, Police Master Sergeant (PMSgt) Rodolfo Mayo Jr., who is assigned to the National Capital Region (NCR) Special Operations Unit (SOU) of the PNP-DEG. Documents uncovered have implicated him and several individuals in illegal drug trade activities. They also arrested Ney Saligumba Atadero who revealed where the drugs were stored during interrogation. Domingo described the office as an illegal drug front.
The PNP-DEG followed up the Tondo raid with an operation in Pasig City. An arrest warrant was served on High Value Target (HVT), Juden Francisco, the 4th most wanted drug baron in Northern Mindanao. Francisco was located and arrested in the area along with seven others arrested for allegedly obstructing the course of justice by refusing to reveal his whereabouts. Francisco was implicated in the documents seized in the prior Tondo raid. (Until now, however, it seems the police have been unable to find the supposed warehouse full of drugs.)
Acting on the Tondo raid evidence, the PNP-DEG arrested police officer Rodolfo Mayo Jr.
The PNP’s Internal Affairs Service (IAS) recommended the summary dismissal of Mayo on January 9, 2023 from the PNP-DEG Special Operations Unit in the National Capital Region. The investigation also revealed that other high ranking police officers are involved in the illegal drug trade, leading Interior Secretary Abalos to call for officers to tender their resignations.
PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. finally approved Mayo’s dismissal last March 6, upholding the recommendation of the Internal Affairs Service who found him guilty of grave misconduct and of conduct unbecoming of a police officer.
Lawmakers have been lamenting the slow pace of investigations by the PNP. Rep. Barbers, chair of the dangerous drugs panel, said he recognized the need to uphold due process, but he said the PNP must work double time to ease people’s doubts.
“Why is it that the PNP SITG is foot-dragging or dilly-dallying on their probe? Are they covering up for something we don’t know or are they still trying to make up a different script about his arrest and involvement in shabu stockpiling and possible recycling?” asked Rep. Barbers.
Recently, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) revealed the illicit practice of drug recycling after an informant promised to provide them with jobs in exchange for a portion of the narcotics seized in operations. But PDEA chief Moro Virgilio Lazo maintained they do not tolerate it.
This mess just confirms widely-held suspicions that the illegal drug trade and the drug scene on the ground hasn’t been cleaned out because some of the very officers entrusted with the mission to eliminate them aren’t doing their jobs.
This raises questions that need to be answered by the authorities such as, are corrupt police officers also working in the drug trade which is why big-time drug lords are not being caught? And, why is it that small-time dealers are being so violently killed for resisting arrest or put behind bars while the big fish go free?
Watching the Senate investigations on YouTube, it appears that some PNP policemen in the Drug Enforcement Group are really: protecting drug cartel operators with the excuse that they are “informants”, siphoning off a portion of the seized during their operations (for resale and recycling), and counting on their superiors to cover up for them.
In the October 8 raid alone, 42 kilos were initially siphoned off by officers on the scene. But, since it was recorded on screen, they were later on retrieved (hence why initial reports of 990 kilos ended up being more than a ton).
So, there you have it. This particular anti-drug operation is receiving so much attention from the lawmakers because this huge amount of shabu was actually found in an office that belongs to a sergeant who works at the PNP Drug Enforcement Group!
In fairness, and as they show, Congress and the Senate are trying hard to get to the crux of the matter. Because for the elected representatives of this country, drug smuggling and selling is one of the big problems facing the country and a cause of crime and corruption. But are they looking at the problem through a lens of religious morality, hypocrisy and political opportunism or are they looking at it through the lens of what is best for human beings?
Ignorance and moral relativity regarding drugs
The whole debate in this country betrays the absolute ignorance and moral relativity that is applied to the topic of drug use.
As a society we must ask ourselves more fundamental questions about drugs. Why are some drugs tolerated and even promoted in the media while others are stigmatized? Why are nicotine and alcohol legal when statistics from the world health organization indicate that worldwide 3 million people die annually from alcohol related causes, while nicotine brings a premature end to the lives of 8 million people every year?
Why are some substances defined as legal and others illegal in the first place? On what basis are such decisions made? Who benefits financially from such classifications? Why does the state and the church feel that it has the right to interfere in the private matters of citizens? Wouldn’t it be better for the health of recreational drug users for such drugs to be produced in state-regulated facilities, just like alcohol and tobacco products are? The revenues raised from a legal and well-regulated industry that provides quality products could provide the resources to pay for health services for those who get into trouble and for educational services to inform anyone who is thinking of using them about their effects and risks, so that Filipinos can make informed decisions about whether or not to use them.
And, wouldn’t it lead to a massive reduction in crime if currently illegal drugs were to be legalized and produced in regulated conditions? The whole violent drug industry which leads to the deaths of countless young people and suffering of their families would disappear overnight!
Certainly while laws exist in the Philippines that criminalize all aspects of drug use, from production to dealing to consuming, they must be upheld in a fair and equitable manner with all Filipinos equal before the law.
But more than this, it is time for the Philippines to do serious research into all aspects of drug use and addiction including nicotine and tobacco, because these two are far more deadly and far more costly to society than the shabu that people use to get high at nightclubs will ever be.
References:
Lawmakers Begin Probe on October 8, 2022 Drug Bust. 26 April 2023
https://www.congress.gov.ph/photojournal/zoom.php?photoid=4733
Decades of punitive drug war strategies failed – UN
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/03/15/2251721/decades-punitive-drug-war-strategies-failed-un
The Tondo raid is not the biggest by amount or worth of illegal drugs seized. 1,585.25 kilograms (3,494.9 lb) (or ₱11 billion worth) of illegal drugs were seized in the March 2022 Infanta drug seizure.
Source: Wikimedia Commons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2022_Infanta_drug_seizure
Illegal drug trade in the Philippines, on wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_drug_trade_in_the_Philippines