Robredo's camp to PDEA: Face the truth that drug war failed

Rather than attack Vice President Leni Robredo, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino should just admit that the drug war failed in reducing supply and trade money, her camp said Monday.

Robredo’s spokesperson, Barry Gutierrez, was responding to Aquino’s statements that Robredo was only after launching a political attack against President Rodrigo Duterte in concluding that the drug war is a failure in her 40-page report as co-chair of the Inter-agency Committee Against illegal Drugs (ICAD).

“We hope that [PDEA] Director General DG Aquino will read the report in full. If he does, he will very clearly see that the VP acknowledges the work of the ICAD agencies while pointing out the areas that need further effort. The Vice President’s report is based on official numbers largely from ICAD agencies,” Gutierrez said.

“The P45 billion worth of illegal drugs he claims have been seized, is, according to Philippine National Police figures, less than two weeks worth of total drug consumption, and only serves to validate the point made in the report. We hope that [PDEA Chief] Aquino and other officials will face these hard truths squarely instead of attempting to brush them off or confuse the issue,” Gutierrez added.

Gutierrez was referring to PNP estimates on shabu consumption in the country which is 3,000 kilogram per week worth P25 billion.  The figure was cited by Robredo in her report.

Based on PDEA records, it was only able to seize less than one percent of PNP’s estimates of 156,000 kilograms of shabu consumed in the country per year from 2017 to 2019.

“The conclusions are all anchored on these numbers. The Vice President explicitly stated that her purpose was not to criticize or attack anyone, but to reveal the truth about the drug war. The numbers are there. The report is clearly based on empirical evidence,” Gutierrez said.

“If they disagree with it, they should prove their point through evidence as well. Otherwise, it is obvious who is really politicizing the issue,” Gutierrez added. —LDF, GMA News