Punchline
War on Drugs, localized
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE totally unexpected order of PDU30 pulling out the PNP from the war on drugs caught most everyone by surprise including the political opposition.
What made him to do it?
He’s obviously piqued, tired and mad as hell being described as a murderer over his war on drugs. So I surmise he opted to do things as the bleeding hearts are wont to do and later lay the blame on them for the resurgence of the highly profitable drug, the return of narco cops and politicos with a vengeance like they did during the Aquino administration.
Right or wrong, the President decided how things should proceed and he will remain accountable.
But from where I sit, I view the order as something positive, taking the war on drugs to a higher level, shifting accountabilities and responsibilities from a mere police business to a community business.
For the past 12 months, the police have shown how the drug menace can be checked in the street level, how the drug networking operates, what can effectively neutralize recidivists, etc.
Given the new order from PDU30, I believe it is time for provinces, towns and cities, and barangays to begin looking out for themselves!
From a national campaign, the war on drugs is now localized.
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EMPOWERED BUT NEGLIGENT LGUs. Recall that the war on drugs was launched and waged in 2016 because both the national and local governments failed to respond to the crisis that our political leaders chose to ignore.
But strictly speaking, PDU30’s war on drugs was in fact unnecessary because local governments have the capacity to respond effectively to the drug issue. It is nothing like the violent threats posed by NPA, Muslim secessionist or Islamic extremist movements or Abu Sayyaf that require the armed forces and the PNP to strategize actions unilaterally.
The drug pusher is by our doorsteps and schools, the target victims are members of our families or of our neighbors. In many communities, the neighborhood pushers are known, and in most cases, the barangay kapitans know who are bringing the drugs and who are using them.
In brief, the drug issue is a local issue but President Duterte pulled all stops when he felt the narco-politicos and cops were taking the country to hell and nobody was lifting a finger – not the governors, the mayors, kapitans; not even the police generals, not even the religious sector.
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TIME FOR ADACs TO TAKE CHARGE. So here we are without the PNP as a national organization doing the job for us.
On the national level, PDEA will seek out the drug lords and their distribution system to constrict the drug supply. That’s PDEA’s mandate from the very beginning.
But what’s to happen to our communities? Everything can, and should happen.
We have formed Anti-Drug Advisory Councils (ADAC) in the province, all towns, cities and barangays. The provincial director sits in Provincial ADAC, and so do the police chiefs in municipal and city ADACs.
The local police is tasked to respond to the ADAC’s directions that demand police action, i.e., monitoring and arresting drug pushers.
The question is, will our leaders holding fort in those councils pick up the challenge to watch out for our own respective community’s welfare, finally?
If local governments still choose to wait for the national government to act on the illegal drugs affecting their communities, then they only have themselves to blame if more of their respective residents are snared by the drug syndicates, and or become victims of deranged drug addicts.
From this day forward, I dare say – PDU30 is no longer to blame for the drug menace if we don’t act.
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MOBILE CCTVs FOR POLICE. Last week, I suggested the formation of volunteer groups in cities and towns by police stations to be composed of private car/truck/motorcycle owners equipped with dashcams and Go-Pros.
I have no doubt that many vehicle owners will be more than happy to extend their services as the law enforcers’ eyes on the road knowing that they are called upon to serve their communities’ welfare.
The service is about making the dashcams and GoPros virtually become the mobile CCTVs for the community police.
My suggested arrangement is for the volunteer group’s members to open their dashcams each time they are on the road and pledge to share clips of videos/pictures that may be requested by the police on specific cases.
The volunteers may respond to calls for assistance to take positions around the community for purposes recording events on the road or checkpoints.
But the volunteers’ vehicles must not be used as unmarked police patrol cars, with police personnel directing movements for this can risk lives of volunteers.
I’m certain that the interaction that will ensue between the police station and the volunteers will be interesting and fun while being of service to the community.
How about it, Messrs. Chief of Police?
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HYPOCRITE DE LIMA. “Many times over and ever since the start of his flagship program of drug war and EJKs, many sectors have been in chorus in saying that, while there is a serious problem of drug trading and drug dependency in the country, better approaches are available that give primacy to due process and to a rehabilitative and reformative philosophy that values life and rule of law in dealing with a multi-dimensional problem such as the drug menace. Hindi itong ganitong gyera. Hindi itong gyera naman talaga laban sa mahihirap at laban sa dignidad ng mga Pilipino.” – Sen. Leila de Lima.
It’s easy to appreciate constructive criticisms when I see one but this from the lady senator takes the cake.
She hasn’t changed her tone since she was elected senator under the LP banner.
While I commiserate with her situation, being detained in isolation inside Camp Crame, I have not heard her suggest anything positive with specific recommendations on how the campaign against illegal drugs can proceed. All she ever did was to accuse PDU30 of being a murderer.
Yet, she has not explained either how deaths of drug suspects suddenly became an extra-judicial killing in her eyes when the Administrative Order she issued as DOJ secretary of PNoy deliberately avoided listing deaths of crime suspects as EJK because she refereed to these as mere homicide cases.
No she writes– “better approaches are available that give primacy to due process and to a rehabilitative and reformative philosophy that values life and rule of law in dealing with a multi-dimensional problem such as the drug menace”- again without a specific strategy in mind.
What hypocrisy. She’s not going to win her war on words.
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