Gov’t to shift focus to supply side in new drug war strategy – Remulla

MANILA, Philippines — The government will try a “new strategy” in combating illegal drugs, which will involve focusing on the supply chain where they are coming from, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said on Tuesday.

He and other law enforcement agency officials discussed this with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in a meeting on Monday.

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“We discussed a new strategy towards fighting the war on drugs. For the longest time we have been concentrating on the consumption side: arresting them on street levels, arresting them on crimes they committed on the buy-bust,” he said in a Palace briefing.

“This time we are going heavy on the supply side, chasing after the big guns, the big suppliers, the main men involved in the importation of drugs. The personalities have been identified; I am not at liberty to discuss it. Hindi ko pwede sabihin (I can’t reveal it). But the meeting was about going after the supply side of the drug war,” Remulla added.

Furthermore, Remulla noted that the “number one source of drug trade” remains inside the Muntinlupa City Jail.

The government is proactively taking steps to transfer “high-value detainees” to a maximum-security facility in the Philippines, he said.

Remulla refused to provide details about the facility and the identities of the detainees.

‘Systemic problem’

In the briefing, Remulla also acknowledged that many have already tried to solve the problem of illegal drugs inside the facility but failed to do so.

“Ang dami nang sumubok ayusin iyan. Lahat na ginawa nila—hinigpitan, lahat na, but it seems that mayroon pa ring—systemic na iyong problema sa loob ng Muntinlupa, eh, so they’re trying a new approach,” he said.

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(Many have already tried to fix that. They did everything—they tightened controls, everything—but it seems that there is still a systemic problem within Muntinlupa, so they’re trying a new approach.)

“Kahit anong gawin nila, after isi-sweep nila, after two weeks lahat may telepono na naman (No matter what they do, after they sweep the place, within two weeks everyone has a phone again), so evidently there’s something wrong within the system, and changing personnel is not the answer.

“You have to change the location, change their ability, change their accessibility para iyong (so that) communication with the outside world is curtailed. So, iyon ang ginagawa (That’s what they’re doing),” he continued.