Pubdate: Tue, 14 Mar 2006
Source: Sun.Star Cebu (Philippines)
Copyright: 2006 Sun.Star
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1690
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines

EDITORIALS: DRUG SMUGGLER'S PARADISE

As chairman of the Cebu City Council's committee on dangerous drugs,
Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. has all the reason to take exception to the
US State Department's description of the Philippines as a "drug
smuggler's paradise."

The US State Department did not exclude Cebu City in the negative
description and thus, by keeping silent, Pe would be indirectly
admitting his own failings in the fight against the spread of illegal
drugs in his turf.

Unfortunately for the councilor, not many are with him in his attempt
to differentiate Cebu City from the other areas in Cebu province and
the rest of the country as far as the extent of the illegal drugs
problem is concerned.

No. 1 Menace

Some people, for example, cannot just accept Pe's statement that Cebu
City has made headway in battling the illegal drugs trade and that
there are no organized groups involved in it in his turf without him
substantiating the claim.

He should back that with statistics, and even those are not so
reliable considering the propensity of law enforcers to toy with data
and the fact that, because trade in illegal drugs is hidden, the scope
of its reach cannot also be ascertained for sure.

But there is no denying that the illegal drugs trade is Cebu City's
number one menace and has been widely believed to be part of the
reason for the proliferation of other forms of criminality like
robbery, murder, even rape.

And to say that law enforcers, whether in Cebu City or anywhere else
in the province and country, are gaining headway in the fight is to
stretch things too far.

Painful Truth

The US State Department's assessment may be difficult to accept or can
even be considered a bit exaggerated but it should, at the very least,
serve the purpose of jolting authorities into action; that is if they
can ever be jolted anymore.

Indeed, it is difficult even for ordinary people to be on the positive
side and accept the view that the war against illegal drugs is being
won.

There are reasons for the pessimism.

An example: aside from the busting of a shabu lab in Mandaue City in
2004, no proverbial big fish has been caught and even so-called
vigilantes in Cebu City are timid when it comes to going after big
druglords.

Considering the situation, how can one contradict the assessment,
then, that this country has become a drug smuggler's paradise, without
feeling awkward about it? 
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MAP posted-by: Tom