EDITORIAL

By November 20, 2018Editorial, News

War on drugs’ delusional objective

IS Pangasinan nearly drug-cleared?

If we go merely by submission of administrative documentation, the answer will probably be yes. But the policy of requiring documentation only provides the indication a town/city is drug-cleared at the time of the submission. However, since evaluation by the regional committees tasked to pass judgment is not done and completed within 24 hours, it’s delusional to believe that a town/city that complied with the submission of requirements is drug-cleared until the next round.

How can a town/city in reality be considered drug-cleared after weeks and months from submission of the documents when the reality on the ground is, once a town/city is drug infected, it can never be drug-cleared for a day because it has become a major and easy source of livelihood for criminal minds. The pushers may disappear for a day when alerted by protectors in the barangay (and police station) but they never stop until they are arrested or killed.

Our point is, the true gauge of a successful campaign is when families in the community feel they are enjoying far better peace and order, when families no longer have to worry about relatives being victims of drug addicts and syndicates of pushers, when families are confident that their police are constantly on red alert watching out for illegal drug trading in the neighborhood. It is not determined by documentation.

To believe that a drug-cleared status can be achieved through documentation works for the drug syndicates since the proof of being drug-cleared is “NO ARRESTS.”

 

Dynasty part of democracy

POLITICAL dynasty, that crass craving by power-hungry family members to run for positions every election year, has become a hot topic again in the run-up to the May 2019 polls. The Binays, Marcoses and Estradas have been into it for the longest time.  But if you come down to it, dynasty is but a part of democracy.  In fact, dynasty is all very fine because democracy, our main form of government, allows it. Isn’t democracy defined as by the people, of the people and for the people?  Dynasty lives on because it gives the people the freedom to vote freely.

And this is the naked truth:  Our lawmakers themselves will never craft a dynasty bill because that would be political suicide for dynastic families.  So quit yakking.   You want to end dynasty?  Vote wisely.  Reject dynastic candidates.  And make your ballot a bullet for democracy.

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