02 August 2017•Update: 02 August 2017
By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY
The Philippines’ Duterte presidency on Wednesday lashed out at his predecessor for charging his high-profile war on drugs seems to have accomplished nothing.
"Comments like the above from past leaders imply a jaded cynicism borne of a history of political opportunism," said Ernesto Abella, a spokesperson for President Rodrigo Duterte, in a statement.
"The results of the anti-illegal drug campaign speak for themselves.”
Former President Benigno Aquino III was quoted as telling reporters on Tuesday that in 2015, the last full year of his term, statistics showed that there were 1.8 million drug users in the Philippines -- the exact same number as at the end of 2016, with Duterte in office.
“It seems like nothing happened,” said Aquino.
But Abella shot back with a volley of statistics, saying that Duterte’s war on drugs has resulted in the unprecedented voluntary surrender of more than 1.3 million major drug traffickers and dealers.
Comparing the arrests of 96,703 drug traffickers and dealers in Duterte’s first year (June 2016-June 2017) to the Aquino administration's 77,810 arrests in his six-year term, Abella said much progress has been made in the campaign against hard drug traffickers and violators.
Duterte's anti-drug campaign has also made sizeable drug seizures in its first year, seizing 2,446 kilos of “shabu” methamphetamines compared to the 3,219 kilos of shabu seized in six years under Aquino, he added.
Aquino also urged a review of a bloody drug raid against a political clan in the southern city of Ozamiz that left 15 people dead, including Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr.
"Those concerned [authorities] should look at it. Anytime there is a loss of life... It is in the Constitution, the duty of the government to protect every citizen," he said.
