CHINA for centuries has been the source of drugs for the Philippines. In the 1800’s it was Opium which was sourced from India brought by the British merchants. The Chinese was forced to consume opium when they lost the Opium War to the British Empire.
When the Peoples Republic of China was born, the syndicates innovated. Instead of outsourcing opium, they upgraded the drugs from Burma and these became known as shabu. After Edsa I in 1986, shabu came to our shores, with our narcotic officials underestimating the new drug as only for the filthy rich.
They were wrong as now all the barangays in the country infiltrated by shabu, with the so called highly educated and the unschooled falling as drug addicts.
The battleground in the supply reduction of shabu should not only be the streets; we have seen the spectacle of street pushers and the so called high-value target being killed, yet admittedly the supply by the tons of shabu still continues to flood our street. How do we address this?
The President is on the right track for having appointed a Director General of the PDEA as the Bureau of Customs Commissioner assisted by PDEA agents now manning our ports. But this must be upgraded, we will call this the Sino-Filipino War on Drugs.
The president must enter into a treaty allowing PDEA agents with Chinese Narcotics Officials to work in China. PDEA agents will be designated as liaison to the Chinese police and its Customs and Excise Department. Its primary duty is to go after the drug syndicates based in China whose operation targets Philippines as its drug supply destination.
The treaty would provide a proviso that all Chinese, to include Filipino citizens but of Chinese nationality arrested in the Philippines for violation of the Anti-Drugs Law, will be sent to China for execution. The presence of our anti-narcotics Officials in China will expedite the dismantling of these drug syndicates in China whose business targets the Philippines.
No shabu, no supplier, no user.--Clarence Paul Oaminal