Philippine National Police spokesperson Police Colonel Bernard Banac. INQUIRER.net file photo / Cathrine Gonzales
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) agrees with President Rodrigo Duterte that the drug situation in the country has worsened despite the government’s brutal war on drugs.
In a press briefing on Tuesday, Police Colonel Bernard Banac, spokesperson of the PNP, said that the drug situation has worsened in terms of the supply of illegal drugs from other countries, but said that there has been progress in terms of lowering drug use.
“Sumasang-ayon tayo sa assessment ng Pangulo na nagworsen nga ang drug situation in the sense na ‘yung mga international drug syndicates ay patuloy pa ring niyuyurakan ang ating batas. Patuloy pa rin silang nagpapasok ng large volume of illegal drugs,” PCOL Banac said.
(We agree with the assessment of the President that the drug situation has worsened in the sense that international drug syndicates are continuously trampling upon our laws. They continuously smuggle large volume of illegal drugs.)
Banac said that recent hauls of shabu and discoveries of floating cocaine in the country’s eastern seaboard validate the President’s claim.
On March 24, Duterte admitted that “things have worsened” and that the “policemen are at the brink of surrendering” in the war against drugs during the campaign rally of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan in Cagayan de Oro.
READ: Duterte: Drug problem in PH has ‘worsened’
But despite echoing the statement of the President, Banac said that the PNP will never yield to the drug situation.
“Hindi tayo nagpapadaig dito. Nariyan pa rin ang ating kampanya. Tuloy-tuloy pa rin. Hindi tayo nagpapadaig sa problema, sa challenge na ito,” he said.
(We’ll never give up on this. The campaign remains. It will continue. We won’t let ourselves be defeated by the problem, by this challenge.) /jpv