My Views on The War on Drugs in The Philippines

I am against the war on drugs imposed by the Duterte administration that promised the whole nation six months to ward off drugs that only resulted in extra judicial killings and blood-stained streets.

We have two stances in which we explain why we are against the war on drugs. First being that war on drugs is anti-poor. Anti-drug campaigns target poor citizens because they have no access to legal aid and treatment.

This means that this war on illegal drugs is illegal, immoral and anti-poor in the first place (Jeffrey, 2019). According to ABS-CBN news, from May 10, 2016 to September 29, 2017, there are 5,021 drug related killings reported. 223 of the victims has blue collar jobs and 38 of them are unemployed. Most of them were poor and live in the slums of Manila. The place of residence and the occupation of the victims shows that the victims were over and over again, poor and do not have the means, such as money, to defend themselves or even get them to a proper hearing. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio raised a point during the SC’s oral argument on the constitutionality of the drug war that Oplan Tokhang attacks the poor community. And President Rodrigo Duterte also admits that the Poor Filipinos are vulnerable in this war on drugs. This is not a war on drugs, everyone, but war on the poor.

Our second stance being that war on drugs is not working. The number of illegal drug users doesn't decrease, but rather the number of innocent people is the one decreasing.

Calamard: War on drugs doesn’t work on any country. It doesn’t solve problems, but rather it just increases the rate of crimes. It increases the rate of problems like extrajudicial killings, vigilant crimes and detention in rehabilitation centers. They are killing someone who had already surrendered. War on drugs is ineffective because all detention facilities and jails are overcrowded, and they do not get served of their rights to a healthy rehabilitation place.

A Police also get paid every kill. According to Amnesty International, there is a statement from a police officer with the rank of Senior Police Officer 1, they get paid secretly by headquarters with 8,000 to 15,000 per head. They get more money when they kill more than they could if they only get to arrest one. Some police pay other people so that they could have their hands clean of the mess this junk system is made out of, and they do this so as to maintain their names and reputations untarnished. And other police officers plant evidences and fabricate reports. Some may not agree to this, but the police force are, yes, forced to do their jobs but this is isn't the supposed to be 'protectors' of the mass are supposed to be doing. It doesn’t solve the problem because the people that are incharge in the war on drugs only targets the problem on a surface level, instead of digging past what is seen from the naked eye. War on drugs just feeds the pocket of those who are in power. War on drugs doesn’t help the country, it helps the bourgeois and the capitalists to make more money and extortion.

It is apparently evident that the war on drugs do not help the country solve its drug-related problems, nor does it decrease drug users and pushers. War on drugs is anti-poor and it doesn’t work in any country. And instead of helping the poor because they are sometimes below the poverty line, this war on drugs just eliminates them. This war on drugs proved that it is ineffective in eradicating drugs. Instead of removing the destructive nature of drug it just make things grow. In short it is not helping our country. They should stop conducting this war on drugs. There are some people who were drug addicts in the past but when given the right treatment and place to contemplate what they want to do in life, we would be fascinated to see how drastic things can change among themselves. Let us stop ourselves from supporting this madness imposed by the true enemy of the people. Stop the war on drugs!

However, here are some counterarguments that our stand may encounter.

There are certain claims which states that war on drugs is not against poor. It only shows that most of the illegal drug users came from poor communities. Law enforces have also insisted that the drug war is not targeting only poor people. As mentioned by PDEA Spokesperson Carreon, they also focus on policemen associated with illegal drugs, and they also target people that are syndicates or is associated with known drug pushers.

There are also claims that the war on drugs is working and that it eliminates drug users and solve other problems of the society. According to ABS-CBN News, in the last quarter of 2018, there is a 66% decrease in the number of illegal drug users. The high rating obtained is a proof that anti-illegal drug campaigns is effective and it became a way to reduce crimes, as mentioned in the statement of PNP Spokesperson, Bernard Banaac. According to the National Capital Region Police Office, there is a 25% drop in crime rate due to drug war. In the statement of NCPRO, drug users were often behind crimes as a result of being “high”. They are forced to commit crimes to get money and fund their vices in short to buy illegal drugs.

The War on drugs is not targeting poor people and it is working. War on drugs is not against poor people but it just shows that most of the illegal drug users are on the other end of the spectrum, so they concluded that it is anti-poor. War on drugs is effective and is working. It not just eliminates the illegal drug users but it also help reduce crime rates. War on drugs doesn’t just focus on their aim, instead they extend their concerns.