Marcos: ‘Bloodless’ drug war nets P62-B ‘shabu’ 

SET FOR DESTRUCTION Billions of pesos worth of illegal drugs, including the P1.5 billion worth of “shabu” found by fishermen off Masinloc, Zambales, earlier this month, will be destroyed today upon the orders of President Marcos who inspected the drug haul stored at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency headquarters in Quezon City. —Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — Citing the P62 billion worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) seized by authorities in operations, including those recovered by local fishermen, President Marcos touted the government’s success in its “bloodless” antinarcotics drive in the past three years and tasked law enforcers to immediately destroy the contraband to prevent it from being sold in the streets.

He gave the directive on Tuesday after he inspected the 1,304 kilos of shabu worth P8.871 billion that fishermen found floating off the shores of the Central Luzon, Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions recently.

The drugs currently stored at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) headquarters in Quezon City will be destroyed on Wednesday at a waste management facility in Capas, Tarlac, which Marcos will also witness. Also scheduled for destruction are 226.043 kilos of assorted dangerous drugs worth P609 million that were seized in separate operations and ordered destroyed by various courts.

READ: Shabu found drifting off Luzon now at P9.3B – PNP

The President noted that the packs of shabu recovered off the provinces of Zambales, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, and Cagayan have been the largest drug haul in the past six months.

“In the last three years, we have been able to interdict P62 billion worth of methamphetamine that we seized, which is the largest considering the time that we are putting it under the past three years,” he said.

“We are hitting the drug trade at the highest level and at the lowest level, and we are beginning to see some measure of success. So we will continue this,” the President added.

‘New concept’

He encouraged the PDEA, the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies to continue the war on illegal drugs “in a peaceful way.”

“The new concept of the war against drugs is working. So, we will continue down that vein. And I think we are beginning to see the good effects of that new policy,” Marcos said.

This “bloodless” antinarcotics campaign, he stressed, is dealing with the problem of illegal drugs differently from the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, which saw over 6,000 drug suspects dead in operations and summary executions.

Marcos gave an assurance that government agencies would step up their campaign in preventing drug addiction among Filipinos, as well as the rehabilitation of drug dependents.

Law enforcers, he added, would also strictly enforce the country’s anti-illegal drugs law by going after drug lords and their syndicates as well as their underlings selling narcotics in communities.

“Those selling illegal drugs, shabu on street corners, we should also go after them. Because if they are there, the people feel that they are not safe. People feel unsafe if these drug peddlers are near their homes and schools,” the President said.

Marcos asked media organizations to witness the PDEA’s destruction of illegal drugs to ensure transparency, noting that in the past, some rogue law enforcers would keep several kilos of shabu and resell them in communities.

In a statement, PDEA Director General Isagani Nerez said the seized shabu will be destroyed in 24 hours since no one was arrested in their seizure and no criminal charges had been filed.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, said the packs containing shabu seized from a fishing vessel off Zambales last week had “Chinese characters.”

The recovered contraband, weighing a total of 1.5 tons and contained in 50 sacks, is considered one of the country’s largest maritime drug hauls, the Philippine Navy said. Its value was estimated at P10 billion. /cb —with a report from Nestor Corrales