Duterte commends PNP for drug bust

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Friday, June 5, praised the Philippine National Police (PNP) for its P5.1-billion drug haul in Marilao, Bulacan, stressing the trade of illicit drugs remains a major threat to the country.

“I would like to congratulate the PNP at si Archie Gamboa, General, taga-Davao ‘to. You have my snappy salute. I will talk to you when I go back to Manila,” President Duterte said in a public address aired Friday morning.

He lauded the PNP for its untiring service amid COVID-19 pandemic. “So despite of the pandemic, police are working. So kita mo ang mga pulis ko nagtatrabaho. So — and mindful of the fact that they can get the COVID by their dedication.”

The contraband involved is huge and it prompted the President to say “it will destroy my country because the 5.1 billion of shabu will be consumed by millions of people”.

The country has become a drug transshipment location, the President said, adding Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, a notorious drug syndicate, has already entered the Philippines.

Warning Chinese drug dealers, he said, “I will say that itong mga Chinese, I’d like the Chinese government to know that there is so many ways of fighting corruption. But one of them that is really pisses me to no end, these are things that — it destroys my country — the human resource, ang mga bata, ang mga anak namin — ninyo.”

Fighting illegal drugs, along with crime and corruption, was one of President Duterte’s campaign promises when he ran for the presidency in 2016.

The President acknowledged that aside from terrorism posed by the New People’s Army (NPA), Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), and other criminal groups, illegal narcotics trade has been one of the major problems that the country is facing.

The Bulacan PNP Provincial Office, in coordination with the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG), carried out the buy-bust operation in Barangay Lias, Marilao, Bulacan on Thursday, June 4.

Authorities seized 63 boxes of shabu weighing approximately 76 kilos during the raid.

Among those arrested were Yuwen Cai, a Chinese national, as well as Angela Tulio and Lyn Tulio. (PND)