Manila: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has said he would summon all mayors and local executives suspected to have links with the illegal drug trade.
“I won’t beat around the bush, as long as I am President, these big time shabu [meth] dealers will really die,” the president said in a recent speech.
“I will call to a meeting all the mayors and tell them in their faces inside a locked room,” that they are the real cause of the problems of the country because they allow and encourage the use of drugs, he said.
“I might go down in history as a butcher, but I don’t care,” Duterte said.
The President gave this statement following a report by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) saying that a number of government executives — including elected officials and employees as well as law enforcers, have been arrested in 2016.
The summary of anti-drug efforts from the PDEA from January 1 to December 31, 2016, shows 219 government officials — composed of 88 elected officials, 95 government employees and 36 law enforcers — were arrested for drug-related offences across the country.
From the 88 elected officials, two were municipal councillors, while most of the rest were either village chairpersons or village aldermen.
Among the law enforcers, the highest ranking official arrested has the rank of lieutenant colonel.
“This is nine per cent higher than 2015 where 201 government officials were arrested for violating the anti-drug law and the highest since 2011,” said PDEA Director General Isidro Lapeña, adding that the numbers have increased significantly each succeeding year.
Since Duterte assumed office in mid-2016, his campaign against drugs, led to the arrest of 135 public officials, composed of 55 elected officials, 64 government employees and 16 law enforcers, compared to the 84 arrested during the first semester of 2016, a 60.7 per cent increase.
“It is alarming that more and more government officials and law enforcers are getting involved in illegal drug activities when they are supposed to implement the law, maintain peace and order in their area and promote the well-being of the people,” Lapeña said.
