President Rodrigo Duterte. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
MANILA — President Duterte’s relentless crackdown on illegal drugs follows a blueprint, according to a Malacañang official. But the policy is not written down. It’s just in his head.
Ernesto Abella, Mr. Duterte’s spokesperson, provided this explanation when asked if the government’s anti-narcotics campaign followed a specific set of rules like any other state policy.
“Definitely there’s a blueprint and it’s coming from the President’s directives,” Abella said in his regular Palace press briefing.
Asked if the Chief Executive had issued a specific memorandum outlining the anti-drug campaign, he said: “As far as I know, there’s none.”
“The directives come from the President. There’s a blueprint. But it’s only in his mind,” he continued.
Mr. Duterte’s mouthpiece said the institutional reforms which the Philippine National Police would be implementing in the wake of the killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo would include the investigation into the claim of Amnesty International that policemen were being paid to kill drug suspects.
Said Abella: “It’s part of the cleansing operation. It’s being looked into… There’s a natural process that’s going and we’re actually acting on it.”
“We don’t need Amnesty International to motivate us to change,” he stressed. “Definitely, the President is concerned about what’s happening and he has actually responded as you can very well see.”
“There are efforts made in actually correcting and ensuring that corruption is staunched in the organization,” he added. SFM