IF there is any pronouncement by an American government official on the war on drugs of President Rodrigo Duterte that seems most welcome since the start of his administration it is the one given by Sen. Richard Black of the state of Virginia
In an interview with EIR Asia expert Mike Billington senator Black emphatically stated “that the Americans, especially their government, should not intervene and respect the Filipino culture because Filipinos know more of what their own country needs.”
He also chastised his own people about their “tendency to impose their supposed ‘higher intellect’ on other cultures.”
The Virginian Senator was once a chief in the Pentagon criminal law division. He also said in the interview with Billington that “the United States had a war on drugs but it was immediately eradicated by politicians and now the drug situation is worse.”
Now it is only they who should be blamed if some well-meaning Filipinos supportive of the President’s anti-illegal drugs campaign, suspect that the same politicians in the US in cahoots with their ilk in the Philippines are the ones strongly working on eradicating the same campaign in our country. That way they can have other nations similarly situated in their own drug war to commiserate with them. And quite sadly, the strongest and most vocal of those condemning the administration’s drug war are oftentimes disguising as human rights defenders.
If the Philippines will be left to freely carry out its own drug war, success is surely attainable. Thus, those US politicians who may have been “subsidized” by US and their tie-up drug lords in the southern American countries who are making the Philippines their transit area and a sizeable side market as well stand to lose their sideline income.
By the way, Senator Black’s statement in his Billington interview was in reaction to a pronouncement of President Duterte to sever ties with the US for the latter’s interventionist attitude towards other countries even as it vociferously claim that the countries concerned are its supposed allies.
Of course these countries are its allies for as long as the US can have its ways imposed without any hurdle to meet.
The Virginian senator’s pronouncement which was posted on Facebook immediately got a flood of positive comments. But the UIS politicians’ lackeys in the Philippines were quick on posting a disparaging computer-generated image of the President on couch seemingly hesitant to leave from it because there is plenty of money in there. Well this must be the Philippine anti-drug war advocates’ attempt to salvage their own potential source of campaign funds come May 2022 elections.
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It looks like only two government officials in the second district are very much involved in the implementation of the DOLE cash for work program TUPAD. What we have read quite regularly in social media are the names of Congressman Vincent Garcia and his nephew councilor Javi Garcia Campos.
What happened to the other officials especially the other seven councilors? Are they isolating themselves from the Garcias? Are they having their own related activities in response to the pandemic tied up with some other government or private offices? We cannot help but ask these questions because somehow all government efforts are supposed to be coordinated and jointly undertaken by all concerned agencies or offices. But in the case of the second district, it appears to be “to-each-his-own” scheme.
But somehow, we could not help also but provide our answer to our own questions. It is election season and it is no time for carrying anyone who could be considered a “baggage” of sort.
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Why are we temporarily suspending our Cebuano column “Nunot Sa Alisngaw…”? Most of our relatives who worked abroad have already completed their contracts and are presently holed up inside our consulates or embassies in the countries they work. We are not getting updates from them so far.
