Shabu seized in 3-year Duterte admin higher than Aquino’s entire term

MANILA, Philippines — The volume of shabu seized under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte in three years is already significantly larger than the shabu haul during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III in his entire term, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Friday.

“We don’t want to put any blaming fingers but nevertheless you want comparison. The immediate past administration, the figure for the past 6 years was about 3.29 tons. Six years ‘yun (That’s for six years). And we are talking about 5.43 with this administration only a little over 3 years. We must be doing something right,” PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.

He said authorities have also dismantled 14 clandestine shabu laboratories that could have produced 96.65 tons of the narcotics.

Carreon was being interviewed about the report of Vice President Leni Robredo that the Duterte administration’s war on drugs was a “massive failure.” Robredo claimed authorities only seized a measly one percent of the total estimated consumption of shabu since the campaign was launched in 2016.

Carreon, however, does not find this assessment accurate.

“We are not a failure… We are really in uproar about this… It’s like downplaying the sacrifices of all those people who put their lives and limbs on the line everyday,” Carreon said.