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Palace tags Noynoy’s comments on Duterte’s drug war as ‘political opportunism’


Malacañang on Wednesday hit back at former President Benigno Aquino III after he implied that President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs bore no fruits.

Aquino on Tuesday questioned the Duterte administration's campaign against illegal drugs, and was quoted as saying "parang wala yatang nangyari." 

But in a statement, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella indicated that Aquino was trying to gain political capital when he underestimated the results of the drug war.

"Comments like the above from past leaders imply a jaded cynicism borne of a history of political opportunism," he said.

Abella said the results of the anti-illegal drug campaign "speak for themselves."

"One, the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign resulted in the unprecedented voluntary surrender of more than 1.3 million drug personalities," he said.

"Two, 96, 703 drug personalities have been arrested in the first year of the present administration’s anti-drug campaign compared to 77,810 drug personalities arrested in the six years of the previous administration," he added.

"Three, 2,445.80 kilos of shabu has been seized in the first year of the present administration’s anti-drug campaign compared to the 3,219.07 kilos of shabu seized in the six years of the previous administration," Abella continued.

The figures were presented after Aquino pointed out that there were only 1.8 million drug users in 2015.

Duterte claimed that there are now around four million drug addicts, and even fired former Dangerous Drugs Board chair Benjamin Reyes for "contradicting" the government's figures. He said Reyes claimed there were only 1.8 million drug users in the country.

But the spokesman said that the drug war is not over yet despite its results.

"Much ground has been gained in the campaign against hard drug traffickers and violators, but the mission is to end the demand, production, distribution and sale of illegal drugs," he said. — RSJ, GMA News

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