Duterte fires drugs board chair

President Duterte fired in public on Wednesday Benjamin Reyes, the chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), for contradicting him on the number of drug users in the country.

Back from a shortened trip to Russia, the President was enraged that Reyes was saying that there were only 1.8 million drug addicts in the country when the figure he was using in his public statements was 4 million.

“I will put to task publicly, this Reyes,” Mr. Duterte said at a news conference shortly after arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal 2.

President Duterte said that former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Dionisio Santiago had said five years ago that the number of drug users in the country was 3 million.

And then Reyes was now saying it was 1.8 million.

“Here comes a chairman … you are fired today. Get out of the service,” President Duterte said of Reyes.

“You don’t contradict your own government … You’re just a civilian member of the board. You are not the implementor of the law,” he added.

The Chief Executive insisted that “the correct count is the police and the PDEA.”

He said there was “too much interference with the advent of human rights.”

“All governments are being interfered with,” Mr. Duterte said.