MALACAÑANG on Thursday, September 26, said the Duterte administration is winning the war against narcotics as indicated by the number of policemen killed in entrapment operations and the amount of illegal drugs seized.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said he asked Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde on the amount of illegal drugs that police have seized.
“Ang answer niya, 132 billion pesos worth. So, can you imagine kung iyong 132 billion pesos worth of shabu eh naikalat sa buong Pilipinas, eh di ang laki ng problema lalo natin. That fact alone will show that we are succeeding in the war on drugs,” Panelo said.
(His answer, P132 billion worth. Can you imagine if this P132-billion worth of shabu were distributed in the Philippines? We will really have a problem. That fact alone will show that we are succeeding in the war on drugs.)
He also noted that more than a hundred alleged policemen have been arrested.
“We are succeeding siyempre in the war on drugs. Can you imagine na 124 policemen killed in entrapment operations – successful ka. Can you imagine kung hindi mo napatay itong mga nagpu-push na ito na involved sa drugs, oh di lalong may problema tayong malaki,” Panelo said.
“Can you imagine kung hindi nila na aresto iyong so many policemen who are now facing administrative and criminal charges? Marami tayong na-dismantle,” he added.
Quoting Albayalde, Panelo also noted that several operations in the past resulted in the arrest of high-value targets.
On the so-called "ninja cops", Panelo said the PNP chief already assured President Rodrigo Duterte that "this issue is already a thing of the past."
“Albayalde told me that he updated the President on the status of the drug war, and revealed that the ninja cop syndicate is a thing of the past. That happened in previous years. That has been dismantled during the term of former PNP chief and now Senator (Ronald) De la Rosa and during his term,” he said. (MVI/SunStar Philippines)