TWO OF the four presidential candidates, Sen. Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, consider the drug problem a big headache that should be solved pronto.
Poe says that if she’s elected, she will declare illegal drugs a national security threat like the communist and Moro insurgencies and involve the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in waging a war against it.
Duterte, on the other hand, promises to eliminate or greatly reduce the incidence of crime and drugs within three to six months of his installation in Malacañang.
So, between Poe and Duterte, who do you think can solve the drug problem based on their promises?
It doesn’t take a genius to point to Duterte because he has the experience in fighting the drug menace.
Davao City is practically crime and drug-free under Duterte’s watch, making it one of the 10 safest cities in the world.
Poe was talking through her hat because she has no experience in governance and won as senator only because she carries the name of her father, the late action star Fernando Poe Jr.
While Duterte has given a time frame in solving the drug problem, Poe only says she will make it a national security threat and will involve the military in fighting it.
* * *
Duterte makes sense when he says he will solve the drug problem in three to six months because if he gets elected, he will talk “real peace” with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the New People’s Army (NPA) who want him to win.
With a truce forged with the MILF, MNLF and NPA in place, the AFP can join the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in going after drug traffickers and pushers.
* * *
Vice President Jojo Binay, who has grabbed the lead in popularity surveys, and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas can’t be expected to solve the drug problem should any of them become President.
When he was mayor of Makati, Binay didn’t solve the drug problem in the poor barangay in his city.
He was always thinking of money.
Roxas, on the other hand, despite having the PNP under his control since it is one of the agencies under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), didn’t solve the drug problem.
He was too busy quarrelling with then PNP chief Alan Purisima, his subordinate.