Duterte to drug war critic Noynoy: Gago ka

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday lambasted his predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III, who said his war on drugs had yet to produce results.

"Sige, pumasok ka sa droga PNoy, ‘pag hindi kita pinutulan ng ulo, buang ka. Anong walang nangyari? Gago ka," he said at the 113th founding anniversary of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Duterte said that uniformed officials during Aquino's term such as General Vicente Loot had drug links.

"Mga generals mo, ‘yang aide mo, ‘yung aide ni [former Interior Secretary Mar] Roxas puro nasa droga, konektado. Number one diyan ‘yung bata ninyo si General Loot, isa pa ‘yang u– na ‘yan," he said.

Duterte also told reporters after his speech that he had almost achieved in a year what Aquino managed to do in six years.

"Kasi sabi niya, walang nangyari sa campaign. Tingnan naman niya, in all of his six years, he was only able to seize or catch about 3,045 kilos of shabu. Ako, dito ngayon sa akin, just one year, I have already seized about 2,000–nearing 3,000 sa entire six years niya," he said.

Aquino had previously defended his administration's record against drugs, noting that the number of drug users didn't increase during his tenure.

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

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. —NB, GMA News