Pubdate: Fri, 24 Mar 2006
Source: Mindanao Times (Philippines)
Copyright: 2006 Mindanao Times.
Contact:  http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2980
Author: Rene Ezpeleta Bartolo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines

DRUGS-STORES

Ricochet

The accidental discovery of the shabu "supermarket" in Pasig City was
a shocker.

What made it all the more shocking, almost unbelievable, was that the
honky-tonk compound where the prohibited drug was openly sold in
stalls or administered there and then to customers were right behind
the Pasig city hall and a short walk from police headquarters.

They call the establishments "shabu tiangges", or better still;
drugs-stores.

The Pasig discovery gives a new face to the drugs trade. It opens a
new dimension to the dangers that the nation faces from the
proliferation of the mind-bending and future-wrecking substance called
shabu.

It is inconceivable that the drugs-store in Pasig could have operated
for so long a time without the knowledge or, worse, protection of
authorities. A number of city hall employees were apprehended during
the raid. Soon after, a police official was identified as the
"godfather" of the shabu "supermarket."

The Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs headed by
Senator Manny Villar immediately conducted an inquiry into the Pasig
scandal.

But before the inquiry was halfway, another drugs-store was discovered
in Quiapo.

Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) raided a
Pasig-like establishment in Fraternal Street in Quiapo Tuesday (March
21), confiscated P7.5 million worth of the prohibited substance, and
arrested a number of drug pushers and users. Another such drugs-store
was discovered in Bulacan.

"There are many more such stores all over the country," Senator Villar
said soon after the Quiapo raid. "Authorities should continue
intensifying their operations to close down shabu tiangges in the
country and round up drug pushers and users."

All the while I thought that the government had succeeded in
controlling to the barest minimum the illicit drugs trade, and that
drug lords are on the run.

President Gloria Arroyo herself said so in so many speeches before
foreign heads of state and foreign businessmen, along the same breath
that she declared that she had cleansed the government bureaucracy of
graft and corruption, curbed terrorism, jump-started the economy,
provided jobs to jobless Filipinos, waged a successful campaign
against poverty and hunger, and stomped to smithereens the grand
conspiracy of the right, middle and left to destroy government - her
government.

I thought all along that the country has been saved from the drug
menace, and here we are being told that shabu is sold with impunity in
stores, openly like toron and banana-cue.

One very curious thing, though, dear reader - neither President Arroyo
nor her justice factotum Raul Gonzales has issued strong words of
condemnation against the "shabu tiangges", the derelict police of
Pasig, or the mayors of Pasig and Manila. Clearly, these people should
be held liable for the existence and obnoxious operation of these
stores in their respective areas of responsibility.

I can just imagine the sparks that would have flown, the words of
damnation and blame that would have been uttered by Malacanang had the
shabu tiangge been discovered in Makati City, within the turf of Mayor
Jejomar Binay.

That's Philippine justice for you, dear reader.

The 2006 International Narcotics Control Report of the US Department
of State labeled the Philippines as a "drug haven." That would qualify
the country as "a place of shelter and safety" for drug lords, drug
traffickers, drug pushers and drug users.

Said the report: "The Philippines is a narcotics source and
transshipment country. Illegal drugs enter the country through
seaports, economic zones, and airports. With over 36,200 kilometers of
coastline and 7,000 islands, the Philippine archipelago is a drug
smuggler's paradise."

All those, plus a selective justice system and a police establishment
corrupted by politics.

What about Davao City?

We were shocked when shabu factories were discovered in different
parts of the city over a year ago. We never thought anyone would have
the temerity to manufacture shabu in Mayor Rody Duterte's Davao.

How sure are we that there are no shabu tiangges or drugs-stores in
some hidden corner, in some dark alley of the city?

How sure are we, Mr. Mayor? 
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MAP posted-by: Tom