Duterte: Drug problem can't be solved by one president in a single term

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said that drug problem could not be fixed in the Philippines by a single president in a one term.

“Look, itong shabu and drugs, et cetera, cannot be solved by one man for a president for one term,” he said at the Philippine Development Forum: Sulong Pilipinas 2017.

Duterte won the May 2016 elections with a promise to solve crime, corruption, and the illegal drug trade in three to six months.

In his speech, Duterte noted that even the United States is not drug-free.

“It has bogged nations. Hindi nga kaya ng Amerika, tayo pa? Amerika is under siege because of drugs. And they are far worse than us. Yes, of course, they do not admit it. Pero until now, I said, they’re fighting a useless war there that never ends. And the sad part of it is that most of the drugs are provided by their good neighbors,” he said.

“It has until to a point where President [Donald] Trump almost mimic my threats and said that he would, you know, waste them all,” he added.

Duterte said that he only realized the extent of the drug problem when he became president, rendering his six-month promise impossible.

Last January, Duterte said his drug war would not be finished until the end of his term in 2022. —JST, GMA News