Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jul 2016
Source: Sunstar Pampanga (Philippines)
Copyright: 2016 Sunstar
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2252
Note:  also listed as a contact
Author: Errick San Juan

ANTI-DRUGS DEJA VU

This three-month reign of perceived police terror left at least 2,274 
people dead. The government and police implausibly ascribed the 
deaths to gangland feuding, insisting that only 42 drug suspects were 
shot by police officers-most of those in "self-defense". In fact, the 
government openly encouraged the police to carry out extra-judicial 
killings so that the arbitrary goals of its "war on drugs" could be 
met on time.

The Narcotics Control Board provided the indices: 1,765 people 
arrested as major drug dealers and another 15,244 as minor dealers. 
More than 280,000 "drug pushers" and "addicts" gave themselves up to 
authorities and were sent for rehabilitation. In all, some 15.5 
million pills were confiscated and the street price for the drug 
doubled or trebled over the course of the three months from February 
1 to April 30.

Sounds familiar! In Thailand's 75 provinces, it reported that they 
had more than fulfilled their quota of reducing the number of drug 
dealers by 50 percent. In some cases, officials boasted of a 100 
percent "success rate"- that is, all drug dealers in their province 
either dead or detained. Interior Minister Wan Muhammad Nor Matha 
claimed that 440 local officials and politicians, including two 
police colonels, had been dismissed because of links to drug trafficking.

The Thai government used a system of bribes and threats to ensure 
that regional governors and police chiefs carried out the campaign. 
Three lists were compiled: one by police; the second by local 
administrative organizations and village heads; and the last by the 
Narcotics Control Board. Officials who failed to meet their quotas 
faced dismissal. Those who brought in a "major drug dealer"- dead or 
alive-received a bounty of one million baht ( $US23,600) .

But just who has been arrested or gunned down is unclear, as the 
allegations against those on the blacklists have not been tested in a 
court of law. Those whose names appeared had no way of finding out 
the nature of the accusations against them. Terrified of being framed 
up or shot dead, thousands opted to hand themselves in and submit to 
a course of boot-camp style rehabilitation. (Source: Susanne 
Ilchmann, May 9, 2003)

The above-mentioned scenario looks almost similar to what is 
happening in our country under the newly installed presidency of 
Rodrigo Duterte and his war on drugs. With the ever growing number of 
individuals surrendering to the authorities, from drug users to drug 
pushers, the current problem now is where to put these people for 
rehabilitation.

Even before the election day, several people involved in illegal 
drugs surrendered or face the consequences of being shot to death. 
The power of President Duterte's words against drug use and its 
proliferation in the society made them surrender. But for every 
popular campaign that might involve lives of people and its impact in 
the community has a corresponding reaction, may it be positive or 
negative. In our case, and in Thailand under Prime Minister Thaksin, 
a former chief of police, the human rights advocates are the ones 
seeking justice for those who were victims of 'extrajudicial 
killings' and summary executions.

This is one of the reasons for the ouster of Thai's Prime Minister 
Thaksin Shinawatra (aside from other accusations like corruption and 
other government policies), to wit: The Nation (an English-language 
newspaper in Thailand) reported on November 27, 2007:

"Of 2,500 deaths in the government's war on drugs in 2003, a 
fact-finding panel has found that more than half was not involved in 
drug at all. At a brainstorming session, a representative from the 
Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) disclosed that as many as 
1,400 people were killed and labeled as drug suspects despite the 
fact that they had no link to drugs. ... Senior public prosecutor 
Kunlapon Ponlawan said it was not difficult to investigate 
extra-judicial killings carried out by police officers as the 
trigger-pullers usually confessed." (Wikipedia)

There were reports that Thailand's war on drugs ended up a failure 
after all until PM Thaksin's ouster in 2006. One factor to be 
considered seriously was the cross-border trafficking of drugs and 
the issue on drug lords.

"Thailand's War on Drugs victory was temporary. PM Thaksin's campaign 
has decimated the drug market at the local drug trafficker and 
street-user level, but it has not reduced cross-border trafficking or 
attacked the drug trade's higher elements. Additionally, his battle 
against "Dark Influences" has been ineffective, with few arrests of 
note. Thailand's King has even tactfully admonished PM Thaksin for 
his ebullient trumpeting of a victory, when in fact the war is far 
from over. Burma and Laos are still major contributors to Thailand's 
drug problem, and most major Thai drug lords remain free. In fact, 
traffickers have simply changed routes or are storing their product 
in border areas awaiting a time for safe shipment.

While Thaksin's "war" has had a major impact on Thailand's drug 
problem, it should be viewed as a relatively successful campaign in a 
long war, and not as a victorious end to the war itself." (Ibid)

The international community is closely watching the ongoing war on 
drugs of Duterte's administration and there are global organizations 
(known for its hands on 'regime change'of some nations) that are 
critical on its judgment that if you do not kowtow to its policies 
and so-called international standards, you are headed towards the 
exit door like what happened to our neighbor - Thailand.

President Duterte has to act fast before his enemies could re-group 
and destroy him and his loop. Blackmail operation is on. Try to 
analyze some of the columnists hinting that the president and some of 
his trusted men have one way or another have links with the top 
honchos of the underworld.

Many hopes that the president's promise of getting the big fishes is 
for real. Act fast Mr. President and avoid a deja vu of Thaksin's downfall.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom