Pubdate: Thu, 06 Jan 2005
Source: Mindanao Times (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005 Mindanao Times.
Contact:  http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2980
Author: Tony Vn. Figueroa
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

PRICKED PRIDE

THE discovery of shabu labs and the summary execution of drug-pushers in 
Davao City very recently, as expected, have evoked praise. No less than the 
President commended mayor Rodrigo Duterte for the feat, and, in an odd 
compliment to an extra-judicial ending of the participants in the drugs 
trade, some quarters called the entire spectacle an achievement.

But a backdoor scrutiny of this development would open a Pandora box of 
sort. Why would shabu labs, in a time of City Hall braggadocio that drug 
lords and pushers would be scampering for safety elsewhere, sprout like 
mushrooms after a December rain?

Of course, the knowledge that the city has suddenly become a favorite hub 
for Taiwanese "investors" pricked the local leadership's pride. In fact, so 
the grapevines claim, Duterte was so incensed that he is now planning to 
reassess his intelligence network to determine where the failure in 
detecting the entry of shabu labs transpired.

Killing drug lords is not even an issue here because parents whose kids 
have been victims of shabu use understand that a strong warning is not 
enough deterrent to keep people who love to earn fast bucks from using 
illegal trade in keeping their pockets bulging. That the Taiwanese shabu 
lab insiders were done even before the first automatic fire could be fired 
was, in a sense, justifiable to most of those who abhor drug traffic.

Still, the nagging issue is why the shabu labs managed to survive for quite 
a time despite assurances and open threats over the air lanes that drug 
pushers would surely get the daylight out the first time they would be 
found engaging in that deadly occupation. With P331 million earmarked for 
"peace and order" in 2004, where could have City Hall and its minions - the 
police, the Task Force Davao, etc.-gone wrong?

The irony of it all is that the police did surveillance on the drug mafia 
"for two months" before the Dec. 31, 2004 assault, which was fairly covered 
by a search warrant, took place. A lot of things come to mind whenever 
someone asks why the shabu operators have gone unnoticed despite a 
garrison-like treatment the local leadership has imposed over the city? It 
is easy to argue that the city is much too huge to be covered efficiently, 
but does not that argument also cry out for the rational need to partition 
the city now to make it more manageable?

To claim that local backers were behind the entry of the shabu labs was not 
even rational. In Metro Manila, where all sorts of intelligence animals, 
informants and law enforcers are crawling, the tight guarding was not even 
a factor in the mushrooming of warehouse-turned-illegal-drugs factories. In 
the domain of the underworld where easy money is the most attractive lingo, 
even the toughest warning, including those lethal threats from City Hall, 
does not count.

 From where we are perched, the clear picture that slowly comes into our 
view is that the Duterte leadership is slowly being diminished by the tests 
some sectors are using in measuring his capability to run after lawless 
elements.

And so far the list of these so-called "dares" have included the twin 
bombings that left the city's vaunted peace and order program shattered, 
the escape of US treasure hunter Meiring, the never-ending street murders 
of youthful offenders without the benefit of our justice system, and the 
killing of high-profile personalities, among others.

Excuses can show up overnight to justify the bungle the city intelligence 
network committed for its failure to deter the drug lords from coming into 
the city. With truckloads of warnings that have been written all over, it 
is not a small wonder to speculate why Duterte's patience is now being 
tested to the limits. Have some of his most trusted men deserted him? Just 
asking.
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