From Hong Kong to The Hague

A couple of weeks ago, local police busted a student who allegedly couriered drugs which was reportedly worth a large number of pesos. Who knows if he were “really allegedly” couriering the stash? It is not far from impossible that he himself would be selling the meth. Was it meth? It was probably meth. The news was overshadowed with the alleged murder of a doctor by an alleged lover. Of course, the audience would turn to stories like that which has more drama and intrigue. Going back to that drug bust, the irony of it was that the apprehended carrier was a criminology student. What for is he studying criminology? To get away with crime?

More recently, illegal substance peddlers were apprehended, a pedicab driver and construction worker. That tells of the probable pushers that could be hiding in the guise of common folk that we come across on the streets every day. One of the arrested drugs salespersons insistently yelled that he was just a thief, but not a drug seller. Is he denying one crime by admitting to another crime? What does that mean? Is robbery more tolerable than selling drugs? Is selling drugs more evil than taking someone else’s property? I once heard that cops could allegedly let an arrested criminal off being jailed, just as long as the crime does not involve drugs. I’m not too sure what that meant. Are they harder on drug pushers? Are their superiors stricter on drug-related crimes? Are they more lenient on burglary and homicide cases?

Actually, when we hear of drug busts, it doesn’t sound like news anymore. It has become all too commonplace that it just sounds like a somewhat insignificant buzz because it does not stand out anymore. They are just redundant repetitions of previously reported drug-related cases. Did not the previous President wage an all-out-war against drugs? Did he not declare on TV, saying, “I hate drugs”? Did he not go after big-time drug syndicate leaders? Did he not openly bet that he would resign from office if he would not stop drug trafficking in the Philippines in six months? Why did he finish his six-year term? Why has things not changed? I thought when he came into office, he promised that change is coming. Now, we’re singing “Bagong Pilipinas”. Why are we always changing?

What did that Duterte Drug War accomplish? Word on the street then was pushers laid low, surrendered or turned a new leaf. They said that Duterte’s administration sent waves of chills across drug traffickers. Mainstream news reported the arrests and deaths of drug trafficking leaders. But, why does it continue? Why does it proliferate in big-time scale? One could surmise that after the initial scare, the criminals got the hang of it and went back to business and even prospered more in their business. In the mad dash to round up illegal substance suppliers, many lost their lives extra-judicially. I know a mother whose son was arrested by the police in the early implementation of Tokhang. Of course, the mother would vehemently declare that her son was innocent and knew nothing of drugs. She stayed close to her son with the arresting officers all throughout the detention in vigilant stance in any venture of violence. Eventually, the son was released with just a stern warning. If he really were a guilty drug seller , why was he released just like that?

In a rare admission of defeat, the former President acknowledged that the anti-drug campaign failed because he thought that it would work just like it did in Davao. Apparently, it did not. What was that supposed to mean? Was Davao an easier yard to clean up? Was the whole archipelago too difficult to rid of drug peddlers because of the number of islands? Was his campaign only effective in the scale of a singular city?

What’s heartbreaking is that this so-called war waged on with many unfortunate casualties; and in interviews, the President calls them collateral damage that are simply necessary to achieve his end. Apparently, he doesn’t mind that sort of damage which came in lives of his Filipino countrymen. So, never mind the broken stove and the messy kitchen, just as long as he cooked up a sumptuous meal.

This morally corrupt and allegedly internationally illegal drug campaign has now culminated to the historic arrest of a former President of a nation by The International Criminal Police Organization. Before DDS;s could have stormed Villamor Air Base like Trumpers did to the US Capitol, the arrested President was flown to the Hague, The Netherlands (as should be done). Let’s brace ourselves for what the Duterte camp will do in retaliation.

“I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”” -Ecclesiastes 3:17