I GOT a chance to talk with a neighbor, a former Navy man, a couple of days ago. He supported then candidate and now President Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 elections and I was not surprised, therefore when he took a stand supporting the administration’s current war against illegal drugs. Because of this, his support for the President has not wavered even with some of the economic problems the country is facing.
I find his arguments compelling and consider this as one of the reasons why the Duterte government has retained its high satisfactory ratings so far as noted by Pulse Asia and Social Weather Station surveys. Perhaps previous administrations may have overlooked the worries that the people harbored on the intensification of the illegal drugs trade and its negative effects on their communities.
The former Navy man reminded me of one incident before Duterte took over the presidency when a group of people riding in motorcycles visited our place late at night looking for somebody they apparently had a grudge with. The claim was that those people had links to the illegal drugs trade. For the former Navy man, that meant that people like them had by that time become bolder and their swagger worrisome.
“I was worried at that time because drug addicts had gotten so brazen,” the former Navy man told me in Cebuano. “Some of them even flaunted the ‘paltiks’ in their possession.”
I found myself agreeing with the man. What would have happened had the war on illegal drugs not been waged since that time? I recall that one of the reasons why I chose to settle in what can be considered a suburban area was because I wanted my children to grow up in a surrounding that was as innocent as the one I grew up with. Clearly, our place in the city had gotten cramped and chaotic.
Fast forward to more than two years later. Drug addiction is no longer as rampant in our community. If there are still drug addicts around, their acts are no longer as brazen as before. Stories about them holding pot sessions in some neglected areas no longer abound. Those linked to the illegal drugs trade are apparently on the run, and a neighbor or two have been arrested.
“Imagine what would have happened had the illegal drugs trade not been curtailed, at least in our area. At least things have changed now,” he said.
What worries him, he added, is what will happen if a new government takes over after the President’s term ends. His hope is that Duterte’s successor would be as relentless in the war against illegal drugs so there won’t be a relapse, meaning a return to the old days when drug addicts and those involved in the illegal drugs trade have become bold and daring.
So there. I think the former Navy man’s stand is the same as that of most of this administration’s other fans, called collectively as the diehard Duterte supporters (DDS). They are willing to downplay the government’s failings but not what they consider as the gains against the illegal drugs trade. Like the former Navy man, they must have seen the difference in the previous swagger of those involved in the illegal drugs trade from the way these illegal drug traders are acting now—and they feel satisfied.