Communications Secretary Martin Andanar yesterday called Vice President Leni Robredo’s assessment of President Duterte’s drug war a travesty, saying the former co-chairperson of the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs disregarded the efforts of the agencies involved in the campaign.
Robredo had called the drug war a failure and said that the government’s three-year drug war seized only one percent of the total shabu supply in the country.
Andanar expressed disappointment over Robredo’s report on the drug war and even called it a travesty.
“We are deeply disappointed with how Vice President Leni Robredo views the progress that the Duterte administration’s campaign on illegal drugs campaign has brought to the Philippines so far,” he said. “It is a complete travesty which discounts the works and efforts of our law enforcement agencies and other relevant agencies in their collective fight against illegal drugs,” he added.
The Palace official likewise doubted Robredo’s judgment, saying she constantly denied any accomplishments made by the Duterte administration in its anti-narcotics drive and ignored “hard facts.”
“We are unsure of the basis of her judgments, whether it’s through a haphazard compilation of easily available facts and statistics that she accessed during her 18-day stint as ICAD co-chair, or her vested political attacks to criticize this administration,” Andanar said.
He insisted that President Duterte’s drug war was not a failure despite admitting that the campaign continues to face challenges. “It’s true that this campaign continues to face challenges such as the increasing magnitude of drug trade regionally and globally. But given the facts, one cannot call the campaign a failure,” Andanar said.
According to the former broadcast journalist, the drug war has so far cleared 16,706 barangays of illegal drugs; has seized P40.39 billion worth of illegal drugs; has dismantled 433 drug dens and clandestine laboratories; has arrested 8,185 high-value targets; and has enrolled 485,295 surrenderees in the government’s reformation program, among others. (Argyll Geducos)
