Cayetano dismisses VP Leni’s anti-drug war remark

MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Alan Cayetano has countered Vice President Leni Robredo’s criticism of the administration’s brutal drug war, claiming more Filipinos feel safer now.

“Pero ‘yung sinabi mong failed ang drug war (If you’re saying that the drug war has failed), why does more than 80 percent of our people believe that it’s safer now in the Philippines? Why does 80 percent of our people believe na mas mabuti?” Cayetano, who lost to Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential race, said in an interview Monday after the chamber’s flag-raising ceremony.

Cayetano, however, admitted that the fight against illegal drugs is difficult.

“Ang sinasabi ng vice president marami nang napatay pero marami pa ring pusher, kasi malaki pera eh. At marami sa pusher gumagamit din. Pero ang katotohanan marami na ring natatakot na pumasok sa droga, (The Vice President was saying a lot of suspected drug suspects have been killed but there are still a lot of drug pushers, it’s because the re’s so much money in the industry. Some pushers are also users. But the reality is that it has discouraged many from using illegal drugs.)

“So we have to be careful of our words especially number 2 sya sa Pilipinas,” he added.

Cayetano also challenged Robredo and foreign critics to propose a better program than the administration’s bloody war on drugs.

Robredo earlier said there is a need to reassess President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war after it failed to curb the number of drug users in the country.

READ: Robredo: I said reassess – not stop – drug war

It can be remembered that a Pulse Asia Research Inc. survey conducted on December 6-11, 2016 revealed that 81 percent of Filipinos felt safer because of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

But a more recent survey of the Social Weather Stations in December 2018 and released on February 22, 2019, bared that  54 percent of Filipino adults across the country are fear walking in the streets at night “because it is not safe.”/gsg