Fake News: Duterte's War on Drugs

A Story by Matthew Arevalo

Drugs still plague the nation even after Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s “War on Drugs”. Who is
to blame? A common diehard Duterte supporters would say that it is the dilawan regime, a druguser
would say it’s the drug pusher, and our President would say it’s the drug lords. It is this
glorified crusade to annihilate drugs which is to blame for drugs continuously being used in the
country.
Duterte’s war on drugs is similar to improper weeding. In order to kill weeds one can dig
it up or directly pull it so long as its roots come along with the weed. It is most important to
remove the root to prevent the weed from growing back. If one will trace the flow of drugs from
a drug user he/she will find a drug lord at the end. Duterte’s regime kills drug users and pushers
and presents their deaths as progress in his war on drugs while releasing drug lords in police
custody saying that we must follow the due process of law; which proves to be quite contrary to
his objective to annihilate drugs. Having the people believe in his end (annihilation of drugs), he
justifies his means (extrajudicial killing).
It is appropriate to say that Duterte simply pulls the edges off of the weeds and fails to
remove the roots which is enough proof to conclude that his war on drugs is ineffective in
reducing, more importantly annihilating, drug use in the Philippines.