THE Police Regional Office (PRO) Davao cried foul on the “massive failure” statement of Vice President Leni Robredo on the national anti-drug campaign, citing a significant decrease of the index crime in the region to 2,788 in 2019 from 15,710 for 2014 and 11,107 in 2015 when the drug war was not yet enforced.
In a press briefing Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at The Royal Mandaya Hotel, PRO Davao spokesperson Major Eudisan Gultiano echoed the statement of PRO Davao regional director Police Brigadier General Filmore Escobal who said that Robredo's claim "only shows her ignorance”.
"VP Robredo did not fully apprehend the outcome of the relentless anti-illegal drugs campaign in the country such as the significant reduction of index crimes. Also, the campaign against illegal drugs has high approval rating of the Filipinos with the average of 82 percent based on the latest 2019 SWS survey,” Escobal said in a statement.
Escobal joined other officials who countered the latest report of Robredo, who served as the co-chairman of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) for 18 days. Her report showed that only one percent of drug supply and money coming from the illegal drugs transactions have been seized in the past three years.
Eudisan was saddened with the assessment of the vice president saying that she did not recognize the lives of police officers who perished during different anti-illegal drug operations across the country.
It was in 2016 when President Rodrigo Duterte launched the all-out war against illegal drugs. The campaign drew criticisms from different human rights groups and the opposition.
In the data provided by PRO-Davao the index crime dropped to 6,465 in 2016 from 11,107 in 2015.
Crime index continued its decline to 5,020 in 2017; 3,791 in 2018 and 2,788 in 2019.
“This data implies that the national anti-drug campaign of the government is not a massive failure but successful,” Gultiano said.
Since the launching of the national campaign against illegal drugs in 2016 up to December 2019, PRO Davao conducted a total of 5,878 anti-drug operations which resulted to the arrest of 6,459 illegal drug violators and killing of 290 illegal drug personalities.
Sought for his comment, Davao City Councilor Conrado Baluran said that Robredo has the right to comment on the anti-illegal drug campaign of the current administration as the Philippines is a democratic country. However, he said that data shows that the result of the campaign is contrary to her discovery.
He also said her move could be part of “demolition tactic” of Duterte’s critics against him and his family now that the 2022 Presidential election is getting closer.
Baluran is expecting more stunts like this to surface in the future allegedly aimed at maligning and discrediting Duterte’s efforts.
“Gisugdan najud nila ug daot ang Presidente ug siyempre ang members sa iyang pamilya (They are starting to mar the President and his family),” Baluran said.