ALL bluster and fury signifying nothing. This may sum - up the war on drugs may end up.
Already, more than 5,000 deaths have been recorded due to the war on drugs. More often than not, the victims of extra-judicial killings are the men in the street, those who have no means to wield a legal defense. In a word, the victims of the drug war have been the poor.
The transfers, or rather, the promotions of former Customs Commissioners Nicanor Faeldon and Isidro Lapena cannot just be excused with "nalusutan lang sila." This dismissive attitude of so grave an issue makes the cornerstone of the Duterte campaign a big joke. Besides, many souls have rested in the afterlife because of the drug campaign. To excuse these commissioners with almost a shrug of the shoulder does not bode well for this administration.
Recall that under Custom Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon's watch, P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China slipped past authorities last May 2017. In defending Faeldon, Duterte is saying that it was Faeldon who tipped him off of the cigarette manufacturer that made billions by using bogus tax stamps seized by customs last year.
That reasoning, to the ordinary student of logic, is clearly non-sequitur. If Faeldon acted differently with regards to the bogus tax stamps, it does not follow that he could not later be involved in corrupt activities. For all you know, he may have acted that way in the bogus tax stamps to endear himself to the president so he cannot be suspect if he engages in bigger anomaly.
Give Nicanor Faeldon the benefit of the doubt as did the president. From the mess that was created in the Bureau of Customs, Faeldon was not sacked as common sense would dictate. He was only transferred to the Bureau of Corrections.
The case of then Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapena is more complicated, to use the jargon of the millennials. He denied vehemently that the four magnetic lifters contained "shabu."
Six magnetic lifters passed through the x-ray of customs on June, 2018. Two of these lifters were abandoned in Manila International Container Terminal and were found to contain P3.4 billion worth of shabu. Four other magnetic lifters were found in a warehouse in Cavite province on August 8, 2018 already empty of their content - an estimated P11 billion worth of shabu.
Initially, live on ANC TV channel, Isidro Lapena denied that the magnetic lifters contained shabu. If you were a head of the agency, the prudent way to do is to conduct a thorough investigation. He is not the spokesman of the drug lords so the hell he cares denying that the lifters contained shabu. Caught with overwhelming evidences, Isidro Lapena made a turn-around and had to admit that the four magnetic lifters contained shabu.
What aggravates the matter is that Isidro Lapena played the blame game. Lapena blamed PDEA for not sharing intelligence information to him. Yet, the August 6, 2018 letter of Deputy Commissioner Ricardo Quinto to Lapena indicated that the customs and PDEA had been working together since May 2018 on an intelligence operation regarding the possible importation of illegal drugs from Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China. Lapena knew it beforehand.
The magnetic filters are belching smoke of culpability. Lapena could clasp in his hands the fumes. But President Duterte promoted yet again, his man to TESDA.
Instead of promoting these men, a thorough investigation should have been conducted. You cannot just shrug off with your shoulders the deaths of 5,000 and more civilians in the altar of sacrifice in the name of drug war. Besides, if these men are not corrupt, then they are grossly incompetent and hence, do not deserve a promotion. What happened to command responsibility?
Or after all, all these killings and blusters are but a big joke on the believing people.