‘Harsher’ drug war? Learn from the past two and a half years, Robredo says

CEBU CITY — Learn from the results of the war on drugs in the past two and half years.

This was the response Thursday of Vice President Leni Robredo to President Rodrigo Duterte's remark that the government's campaign against illegal drugs will be "harsher" in the coming days.

"Ang sagot ko diyan, matuto tayo sa nangyari over the last two and a half years. Ang daming buhay yung ibinuwis, pero hindi naman natin na-resolve ang problema sa droga," Robredo told reporters in an ambush interview here.

"Hindi ba malaking proof ito na hindi naman violence, hindi pagpatay yung makakasolba ng drugs?" she said.

In a speech in Malacañang on Wednesday, Duterte reiterated his vow to continue the war on illegal drugs until end of his term in 2022.

"I am declaring war. I am not declaring a punitive police action. It cannot help and it would not help. So early on I decided but I think I’d be more, well, I said harsher in the days to come," he said.

"I will not allow my country to be destroyed by drugs. I will not allow my country to end up a failed state because of drugs. And I am declaring war and I said I will kill anybody who stands in the way," he added.

But considering the many extrajudicial killings involving small-time drug suspects that the war on drugs has supposedly brought, Robredo said the government should focus on running after international drug cartels.

"Ang daming pumapasok na droga from international cartels, bakit hindi yun ang pagtuunan natin ng pansin? Hindi yung pinapatulan natin yung maliliit na gumagamit, dapat sana tignan natin yun na mga biktima," she said.

"Ang dapat sanang parusahan natin ay yung mga nagdadala ng mga droga dito sa Pilipinas.... Kasi kahit anong pagpatay ang gawin, hangga't may nakakapasok na droga, problema pa rin yun," she added.

More than 5,000 drug suspects has so far been killed under the war on drugs since Duterte took office in 2016, based on government data. — RSJ, GMA News