By Marvyn N. Benaning / Correspondent
TWO urban-poor groups have called for an end to the bloody antidrug war unleashed by the Duterte administration, saying the victims have been generally drug dependents and street-level pushers, not drug manufacturers and syndicate leaders.
In its statement, the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) stressed that metamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, has been retailed to induce the poor to use the drug collectively, forgetting about their economic hardships temporarily and and rendering them physically immune to hunger and thirst.
“This is not a case of a war against criminality. It is an admission that the government talks the easy way out to resolve the festering problem—by killing drug dependents and not destroying the drug-manufacturing facilities, arresting the drug kingpins and their protectors from the police and military,” it added.
“The big drug cartels and the government officials involved in the drug trade, which is an anti-social practice, should be arrested, charged and convicted for profiting and exploiting the poor, who are most vulnerable to drug abuse,” Kadamay noted.
Kadamay Chairman Gloria Arellano, explained that “many victims of drug abuse living in poor communities turn to drugs to either escape from the harsh realities of their lives or to cope with their restrictive working conditions. Instead of killing these dependents, the government should offer them space to become productive. Drug addiction is a disease that can be cured. Services are grossly lacking, especially for their rehabilitation.” Decent jobs and higher wages are the antidotes to drug addiction, Arellano argued.
In a separate statement, Luis D. Clarin, executive director of the Urban Poor Resource Center of the Philippines said “the urban poor is one of the driving forces of the Philippine economy. Without them, cities could not have been erected; transits would not run; and affordable household services needed by many would not have been rendered. Despite their hard work, diligence and industry, they remain one of the most oppressed sectors of the society. Many are unemployed. Those who are regularly employed earn very low wages. Now, many are being targeted in the drug war.”
Clarin told the Duterte administration that, “contrary to popular sentiment, informal settlers do not like being poor. Many have no choice but to live in slum areas and informal settlements since these are the only spaces they can afford or afforded to them. Adding insult to injury, the government continues to reduce social spending while increasingly placing health-care services, education and housing in the hands of private entities. Without enough financial capacity, the poor find it nearly impossible to access social services, which the state should have ensured in the first place. With this, the slums become a vulnerable target for exploitation through illegal and harmful trades.”
He added: “Finding despair in the burgeoning poverty, some resort to drug dealing to make ends meet. Others end up as drug users to temporarily forget their miseries. These small-time street-level drug peddlers and users are subjected to a punitive and money-making drug policy. Poor Filipinos who become entangled into these socially unacceptable activities are hard-pressed to bail themselves out of jail, much less pay for the ‘kotong.’ It is becoming more and more evident that paying with their lives is a cost the nation must not satiate itself with.”
Arellano also warned about the rise of vigilantism, with several groups using special methods to show their authorship, with one group mastering the use of duct tapes to cover the faces of their victims, and another death squad using ropes to tie their prey and still another specializing in the use of knives to kill their victims.
“Human rights should not be violated in the name of [President] Duterte’s anti-drug campaign. Vigilantes answer to no law, not even Duterte’s, and by letting them loose and uncontrolled, no one will be safe, partiucalrly those who happen to cross paths with these murderers, who think they are licensed to kill,” Kadamay added.
“Totoo namang may mga kababayan tayong minsa’y gumagamit ng droga para maibsan ang hirap ng buhay na dinadanas. Minsan nama’y mayroon iyung mga gumagamit ng droga para makapagpatuloy sa trabaho o makapasada na lampas sa takdang oras para lamang matustusan ang pangangailangan ng pamilya. Pinakabulnerable ang mahihirap sa paglaganap ng droga dahil sa paglaganap din ng kahirapan. Biktima sila na dapat tulungan hindi tugisin,” Arellano noted.
1 comment
JOKE! ang nakaka-intriga dito sa “drug war campaign” ng PNP, 95% ng urban poor areas na sinentrohan ng kampanya ay mga DUTERTE ang BINOTO nung nakaraang 2016 election…
Duterte ang binoto ng mga INFORMAL SETTLERS at ang akala nila, KAKAMPI at PROTEKTADO na sila ng DU30 ADMINISTRATION… hindi nila alam na sila pala ang tatargetin ng PNP,
TAMA si ARELLANO ng grupong KADAMAY at si LUIS CLARIN ng Urban Poor Resource Center of the Philippines….Ang tingin ng marami, ‘yan daw ang “CHANGE is COMING..”