President Duterte Declares “Hands Off” On Philippines Drug War To Satisfy His Critics

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, October 13, said that he was taking a hands-off approach and leaving the job of prosecuting the war on drugs to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to satisfy his critics, who have denounced the rising death toll.

At the same time, however, he said he was not washing his hands of the responsibility for the death of thousands of drug suspects at the hands of the police, who have now been taken off the assignment that has been transferred to the PDEA.

In his speech Thursday, President Duterte said he hoped a shift to target big networks in his war on drugs would satisfy “bleeding hearts” and interfering Western states fixated on the high death toll in his brutal crackdown.

President Duterte earlier directed the PDEA to be in charge of his drug war to target “higher echelons of the syndicates, as well as their protectors in government.”

The President likewise admitted he stands to lose all the gains made in the drug war by pulling out all government agencies involved in the campaign.

“Me frankly? I say we’ll lose it,” President Duterte said.

While he is confident of the competence of PDEA chief Aaron Aquino, President Duterte remained wary whether the agency can cope, now that it is the sole agency leading the drug war.

The Palace on Friday denied allegations that President Duterte pulled the PNP from the job as a “graceful coverup” for its lapses in addressing the drug war.

“That’s presumptive to think that it’s a graceful cover-up. It’s simply a response to a situation. If it were a business, it’s a corporate decision,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a Palace news briefing Friday.

Abella said President Duterte’s latest order was meant to make the Filipino people “more comfortable” as the administration’s crackdown on narcotics remains relentless.

“If the perception is that the PDEA would be more acceptable in doing the campaign, waging the campaign, then let’s see how it goes. That was the tenor of the President’s statement,” he added.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Friday said that he believed that the petition filed before the Supreme Court questioning the legality of President Duterte’s bloody war on drugs will not prosper.

Secretary Aguirre told the reporters that the petition filed by Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) representing the alleged victims of President Duterte’s anti-drug campaign may be rendered as moot since the President already removed the police from implementing the anti-drug campaign.

PDEA chief Aaron Aquino warned Friday that the war on drugs would be pursued less intensely because his office lacks the needed manpower.

“I know the public has high expectations but I am asking the public for understanding because of our limitations,” he said in a radio interview.

Amid unprecedented scrutiny of police conduct, President Duterte issued a memorandum on Tuesday ordering police to withdraw, but “maintain police visibility, as a deterrent.”

The authorities on Thursday said the shift in strategy was to go after big-time drug syndicates.

In a tirade on Thursday loaded with profanity aimed at his foreign and domestic critics, President Duterte said deaths during PDEA’s operations were far less than police, and hoped “bleeding hearts” would be satisfied with his decision.

PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa said the police were winning the campaign, with supply slashed and 113,000 arrests.

He added that the President was just following the law when he transferred the anti-drug campaign to the PDEA.

Chief Dela Rosa speculated it was possible President Duterte was responding to opinion polls that showed some public unease about the crackdown.

A poll on Sunday showed a significant slide in President Duterte’s ratings, although he still remains popular.

Watch the video report below via PTV:

Source: Manila Standard