MANILA - Malacañang on Thursday said President Rodrigo R. Duterte is relentless in his campaign against illegal drugs and has instructed police forces to be "more active" in combatting the menace.
"The President is relentless in his campaign and he’s focused on it, and has in fact instructed the police forces to do everything in their power and in the accordance with law to dismantle the entire drug apparatus in the Philippines," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
Panelo said the President sees no need for martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to address the drug problem for now.
"According to him, he will not, he will not because he has still many measures that he can do to quell the present threat on the drug industry," Panelo said.
Panelo denied criticisms of extrajudicial killings in the government's war on drugs.
"The statistics of the Philippine National Police force showed that presently there have been 165 police officers killed in relation to arrest. And there are, if I am not mistaken, 765 injured policemen,” Panelo said.
“So, it only shows that in the course of the arrest, those subjects of arrest used violence and will not allow themselves to be just arrested, they will have to fight back. Hence the lives of the policemen making the arrest are also at risk," he added.
Panelo said the Duterte administration is focused on addressing both the arrest of drug traffickers and the rehabilitation of drug addicts.
Panelo said Duterte describing the illegal drug problem as a national security threat can both be a description and a legal option.
"It’s in the level of national security. Because, if you have three million and then if that will still increase in more than that, then you will really have a problem that involves national security,” Panelo said.
“You must remember that, under the Constitution the President has the mandate to: one, to serve the people and number two, to protect. So, if the public safety requires him to do something extraordinary using his powers under the Constitution, he will do that," he added.
Duterte said the illegal drugs problem is a national security threat "because it is an enemy which can cause destruction of a country or we render it a failed state".
Combatting illegal drugs is one of the major campaign promises of Duterte when he ran for the presidency in 2016. (PNA)
