By Mortz C. Ortigoza
Naysayers who pronounced that the war on drugs launched by President Rodrigo Duterte is
destined to fail, just like in Thailand, had just been rebutted by a battle
scared senior non-commissioned police officer whose equivalent rank in the military is master sergeant.
In an interview with him, he told
me that not only peddling of illegal drugs in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan – known
as one of the top bailiwicks of narcotics peddlers in my province, had dropped
but three of its 34 villages have been declared as illegal drugs -free.
Urdaneta City Mayor Amadeo
"Bobom" G.E. Perez IV excitedly told me that these dope free villages
are Cabaruan, Otama, and Tipuso.
“You
go to Superintendent Marcelino Desamito
and asked him for more details on these three barangays,” Perez told me and his favorite
media man, who drops by at his office weekly, Harold Barcelona.
Instead of Desamito, who was busy
talking with some Muslim elders, we faced the police “sergeant major” who said index crimes like robbery, theft, and
others decreased by 40 percent because of the war on drugs.
“Iyong akyat bahay itong tag-ulan
marami. Parang seasonal iyan e ngayon wala na.
Wala kaming street crimes. Iyong snatching ng cellphones wala na. Tapos iyong riding-in –tandem na lupa, property
ang dahilan ng patayan wala na iyan".
He suspected that those hire guns
were those who were hooked on drugs. But because of the aggressive approached
by the government on drugs’ traders the menace of drugs have been disrupted.
“Saka sa gabi pag patrol ka
madali ang magsita kasi makikita mo hinde gaya noon na maraming pang tao sa 9
pm”.
He agreed to me that the
aggressive war launched by Duterte, who already saw countless dead suspected
dope peddlers and junkies, have been ubiquitous to bear fruits in all cities and towns in the
country.
So who now says the drug war is a
failure?
I was telling my radio listeners
that the scorched earth approached by the Duterte Administration is the most
effective weapon the pushers understand.
“Due process is not applicable in
this country. Many drug traders could bribe in their favor susceptible
policemen, prosecutors, judges and this happen since time immemorial,” I quipped.
