Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte confronts the suspects in the P18 million shabu haul at the checkpoint in Barangay Sirawan, Toril District in June 2023. Duterte on 22 March 2024 declares a war on drugs in the city. File photo courtesy of DCPO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 27 May) – Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte apparently took a swipe anew at the national government, saying his declaration of war on drugs is “a popular platform” that he inherited from his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Is it a bad thing that I’m declaring war against drugs? ‘Yun ‘yung question diyan. Bakit sobrang allergic sila sa platform na ‘yan? (That’s the question there. Why are they very allergic to this platform?)” Duterte said in a press conference in Tacloban City, Leyte, Sunday morning.
The elder Duterte had waged a war on drugs during his term as President from 2016 to 2022, where thousands of suspected drug pushers and users were killed during police anti-drug operations or allegedly through extrajudicial executions. He was succeeded by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who said he is against solving the drug problem using violence.
“[The war on drugs] is a popular platform from the former President [Duterte], and it’s still a popular platform,” Mayor Duterte said.
The younger Duterte said that the national government can investigate the drug situation in the country if they want to, but added that “he cannot understand why of all the problems in the country, the current administration would spend time and resources on somebody, a local executive, declaring to his community a war against drugs.”
He was referring to the police probe on the deaths of seven alleged drug suspects during anti-drug operations here last March.
Duterte stressed that as a local chief executive, his war on drugs declaration is in the context of “who would want their relatives or community members to become bangag (high on drugs)?”
Last January, the Duterte patriarch called Marcos “bangag” during a “prayer rally here” against the alleged people’s initiative to change the 1987 Constitution. He also claimed that Marcos was included in the drug watchlist of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which the agency had denied.
The younger Duterte said his declaration of war against drugs is out of concern for his constituents.
“As a local executive, that’s an order from me to protect my citizens either figuratively or literally. I will say that this city, my city, is against it and is at war on drugs,” he stressed.
When asked if he will continue his war on drugs, he said: “It’s a declaration. Whether you take it literally or figuratively, it is supposed to deter individuals to go into that kind of activity.”
Recently, Col. Richard Bad-ang, city police director, and 35 other police personnel were relieved from their posts due to the ongoing investigation involving the killing of seven alleged drug suspects in his first week in office. Bad-ang assumed as city police director last March 22.
Duterte and his father were in Tacloban City, Leyte last Saturday for a “Hakbang ng Maisug” prayer rally. However, it was called off due to bad weather.
Notwithstanding the bad weather, the former President alleged the Marcos administration “deliberately wanted” to stop the rally, citing the flight cancellations, travel restrictions, power outages and obstructions at the rally venue.
The younger Duterte appeared in a press conference in Tacloban, the bailiwick of the Romualdez family, the next day where he criticized the Marcos government. The press conference was aired on Facebook.
Marcos’ mother, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, is a Romualdez. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)