MANILA – According to Malacañang, the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is doing significant strides in its persistent war against illegal drugs.
Acting Presidential spokesperson and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar stated that the anti-drugs drive led to the seizure of multi billion-peso worth of illegal drugs and the dismantling of drug dens and clandestine shabu laboratories.
“The Palace, thus, maintains that the Duterte Administration’s campaign against illegal drugs remains unprecedented as it is able to produce significant accomplishments in the number of drugs seized, dens and clandestine laboratories dismantled as well as drug-cleared barangays (villages),” Andanar said in a press statement.
He made the remark, a day after Duterte conceded that he was “wrong” when he vowed to eradicate the drug problem in three to six months in office.
Duterte urged in a speech delivered in Cordova, Cebu the drug smugglers to “drop” illegal drugs, if they want peace.
Duterte made the call, venting his frustrations once again about the seemingly unabated drugs trade despite the ongoing drug war.
According to Andanar, Duterte is merely giving emphasis to the gravity of the drug problem in the country.
“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s recent remarks on the illegal drug trade underscores the depth, the magnitude and the complexity of the problem which was unknown to him when he was a presidential candidate,” he said.
Despite this, Andanar cited that as of February 2022, around 9,915 kilograms of shabu amounting to PHP63.43 billion have been seized since Duterte waged a war on illegal drugs in July 2016.
About 1,075 drug dens and clandestine laboratories have been dismantled, Andanar added.
Moreover, he noted that 229,868 anti-illegal drug operations resulted in the arrest of 331,694 drug suspects.
Andanar stated that about 24,379 villages have been cleared of illegal drugs, while 6,606 have remained unaffected or drug-free.
