Duterte seeks ‘everybody’s help’ in destroying 10,000 drug networks

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte has called on all branches of government and every Filipino to help in destroying what he discovered to be 10,000 drug networks in the country, admitting he cannot win the war on drugs alone.

Duterte said he would work towards a “consensus” with lawmakers to form a final solution to the problem.

In his departure speech for an official visit to Japan on Tuesday, the President said he was shocked by the enormity of the country’s drug problem after getting a thick bundle of papers, which showed the final list of drug coddlers and pushers in the country as verified by law enforcers.

“There are about a thousand policemen involved in drugs. There are almost a thousand barangay captains already in the business of shabu, and there are about — few mayors and national officials,” said the President.

President Duterte is referring to the third batch of politicians, policemen, judges, and barangay chairmen who have been tagged as protectors of drug lords and drug pushers. He has exposed five police generals, hundreds of policemen, several judges, and Senator Leila de Lima in the first two sets of his drug matrix. The President has taken some time before releasing the third narco-list to verify names after getting burned several times in the first two lists.

Duterte ran and won largely on his campaign promise to stop illegal drugs, crime, and corruption in three to six months in office.

But after taking over Malacañang, he admitted that the drug problem has turned out to be bigger than he had anticipated.

“I can’t do it. What will I do, kill them all? It’s almost 10,000 networks spread all throughout the Philippines,” said the President.

He said it would be an “impossible dream” for the government to prosecute all the drug protectors or have all of them tailed every day.

Despite the high body count in his war on drugs, the President said illegal drug industry was resilient as drug supplies cooked in international waters were being dropped off along coastal towns in Regions 1 (Northern Luzon), 2 (Cagayan Valley Region) and 3 (Central Luzon).

“Shabu has infected even soldiers and doctors and lawyers. That is how serious our problem is ,” said the President.

“I will call maybe for a consensus from the top – all senators, congressmen. The problem is too massive and I can’t do it on my own… I’ll be frank with you everybody. I don’t know how to find a solution for this,” he added.  SFM