Editorial
A call arms for Liga ng mga Barangay
THE good thing about high-profile cases involving the rich and the powerful is that it brings to the fore perpetual evils plaguing our society.
The problem of illegal drugs, for one, has been in the spotlight over the last couple of weeks following the case of the ‘Alabang Boys’ involving three young men from wealthy families who are accused of being drug dealers. This ‘Alabang Boys’ brouhaha also underscores the pervading injustice in our judicial system. It is symptomatic of the double standard justice in the country — one for the rich, another for the poor.
In another major illegal drugs case, the little heard of dismissal of the cases against senior police officers charged in the recently busted La Union multi-billion shabu laboratory shows how the system protects the powerful.
But all hope is not lost. The ongoing congress investigation on the ‘Alabang Boys’ case may hopefully lead to unearthing more irregularities in our prosecutors ‘offices and judges’ chambers. A senate inquiry may yet be the tipping point when it conducts its own inquiry. Maybe our legislative branch of government will be able to unmask the rogues in the system, rectify the policy errors of the judiciary and the executive branch. Let’s pray that the reopening of the shabu lab bust case will finally lead to justice for the thousands of families in Pangasinan destroyed by the corrupt men in uniform.
The exposure resulting from the congressional investigation has also given the Dangerous Drugs Board and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency a window to push for reforms in policies relating to illegal drugs. We will have to wait and see whether changes will be implemented and whether these changes will indeed have any impact on curbing our ever-present drug problem.
And in the meantime, families and barangays, the basic units of our society, can and must pull their efforts together to protect their communities from this menace. With the bigger system seemingly unable to bar the big-time operators, small efforts on the ground would prove to be the more effective means of addressing both drug addiction, especially among our youth, and rampant drug dealing.
The provincial Liga ng mga Barangay can finally be useful, justify its existence by declaring a total war on the druglords and the pushers in their barangays with a specific strategy in mind. Enough of lip service.
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