MANILA, Philippines — The country’s drug problem could not be explained by mere numbers, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Wednesday.
“The drug problem is not explained by numbers alone. It is deeper than mere arithmetic,” the Senate leader said in a tweet.
The President's high approval ratings after 3 years, is incompatible with a grand failure accusation. The truth is found in the stories of families at home and the changes in their neighborhood. Dati takot ang mga tao sa adik; ngayon ang adik ang takot.
— Tito Sotto (@sotto_tito) January 8, 2020
Sotto issued this pronouncement two days after Vice President Leni Robredo called the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs a “massive failure.”
Citing data from the Drug Enforcement Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Robredo said authorities have managed to seize only 1 percent of the total projected illegal drugs and drug money exchanged on the streets.
She added that the government was also only able to freeze P1.4 billion of drug assets, which she said was only one percent of the estimated profit from the narcotics trade.
But Sotto said the high approval ratings of President Rodrigo Duterte throughout the first half of his term “is incompatible with a grand failure accusation.”
“The truth is found in the stories of families at home and the changes in their neighborhood. Dati takot ang mga tao sa adik; ngayon ang adik ang takot, (Before, the public is scared of addicts; now, the addicts are the ones who are scared)” he said.
The President's high approval ratings after 3 years, is incompatible with a grand failure accusation. The truth is found in the stories of families at home and the changes in their neighborhood. Dati takot ang mga tao sa adik; ngayon ang adik ang takot.
— Tito Sotto (@sotto_tito) January 8, 2020
The Duterte administration’s brutal campaign against illegal drugs has earned widespread criticism from international organizations and local rights groups.
Over 5,500 individuals have been killed in the drug war, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, but human rights groups asserted that the death toll has already reached 27,000.