Pubdate: Mon, 15 Aug 2016
Source: Manila Times (Philippines)
Copyright: 2016, The Manila Times
Contact:  http://www.manilatimes.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/921
Author: Reina Leanne C. Tolentino

CPP WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FOR ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

THE Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has withdrawn its 
support for President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign against illegal 
drugs, which the party described as having become "anti-people and 
anti-democratic."

"In line with standing orders, the New People's Army (NPA) will 
continue to intensify its operations to arrest and disarm drug trade 
operators and protectors. However, these will no longer be considered 
as cooperative with the Duterte regime's undemocratic and anti-people 
'war on drugs,'" according to a statement by the CPP released on Friday.

"As before, the NPA will continue to exercise due process in dealing 
with suspects, such as those PNP officers presently in custody in 
Compostela Valley and Surigao del Sur."

The NPA is the guerrilla wing of the CPP. The National Democratic 
Front of the Philippines is the political arm.

In the statement, the CPP said the "anti-drug war of the Duterte 
regime has rapidly spiraled into a frenzied campaign of 
extra-judicial killings and vigilante murders perpetrated by the 
police and by police-linked criminal syndicates."

The statement said nearly 1,000 people have been killed in just a 
little more than one month, al that 592 drug personalities have been 
killed in 5,422 operations as of Sunday.

The CPP's criticism of the government's anti-drug war is that it 
appears to target "the lowest rungs of the criminal syndicate ladder."

"In contrast, the suspected big drug lords and their protectors are 
afforded courtesy calls to Malacanang, accommodations in Camp Crame's 
guest house and preliminary investigations by the [ National Bureau 
of Investigation]," the statement said.

The CPP also criticized government for shifting the burden of proof 
from the state to the accused.

"Duterte has come up with one list after another of so-called 
protectors, narco-politicians and judges without proof nor clear 
basis for accusations of their involvement in drugs. He could not 
even tell the people how the lists were drawn. It is a mystery even 
to head of the [Philippine National Police]," it said.

The CPP warned that Duterte's war on drugs is bound to fail because 
it does not address the socioeconomic roots of the problem," it warned.

It cited the case of Mexico and Thailand where it said the drug 
problem remained even after thousands had been killed in the

"In all likelihood, many of the summary and vigilante killings are 
being carried out by the criminal syndicates who use the 'anti-drug 
war' as camouflage for waging all-out war against their rivals and 
their rival protectors in the police, bureaucracy and judiciary or to 
rubout their own men," the CPP said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom