Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jan 2005
Source: Sunstar Davao (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005 Sunstar
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1991
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EDITORIAL: ALL-OUT WAR VS. DRUGS

"It's a good thing Mayor Rody Duterte is not taking any chances and has 
declared all-out war on the illegal drugs trade in his city."

THE all-out nationwide campaign against the illegal drugs trade may have 
been given a huge boost with the New Year's Eve raid on a warehouse cum 
laboratory in Barangay Dumoy, this city, and the killing of six 
foreign-looking nationals in the alleged shootout triggered by the raid.

But the government and its anti-narcotics agents should not rest on their 
laurels. It may be recalled that since 1997 thirty-two such 
warehouses/laboratories producing the illegal drug shabu valued at billions 
of pesos have been discovered and dismantled in various places of the country.

What has been the common denominator in all those raids is the fact that 
all were operated by aliens seemingly experts in the production of the 
prohibited drug with the connivance of homegrown accomplices as 
co-financiers and distributors.

This raises some questions: (1) how many more of these labs are operating 
clandestinely in the country? (2) do they belong to one huge network, or 
are they independent of each other? (3) is the whole thing purely a massive 
business venture using the Philippines as a staging area for international 
trading in illegal drugs, or (4) is there a foreign country from which 
these suspects and their raw materials come from behind such operations 
with the end in view of converting us into a nation of (a) hopeless drug 
addicts and, (b) eventually subverting its democratic system? Who knows?

It's a good thing Mayor Rody Duterte is not taking any chances and has 
declared all-out war on the illegal drugs trade in his city. Other local 
government units (LGUs) ought to do the same and join in a nationwide 
campaign, which has a long way to go before the manufacture and trade in 
illegal drugs can be eradicated completely, if at all.

If Mayor Duterte were to have his way, the drive against this modern day 
menace to society will be a no-holds-barred, knock-them-down and 
drag-them-out proposition. As he said, such criminals do not deserve even 
one gram of mercy.
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