Duterte targets dealers but drugs turn cheaper

Manila, June 25: Launched a year ago, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs has resulted in thousands of deaths, yet the street price of crystal methamphetamine in Manila has fallen and surveys show Filipinos are as anxious as ever about the increasing crime.

Mr Duterte took power on June 30 last year, vowing to halt the drug abuse and lawlessness he saw as “symptoms of virulent social disease.”

Thanks to his campaign, government officials say, crime has dropped, thousands of drug dealers are behind bars, a million users have registered for treatment, and future generations of Filipinos are being protected from the scourge of drugs.

“There are thousands of people who are being killed, yes,” said Oscar Albayalde, Metro Manila’s police chief said. “But there are millions who live, see?”

A growing chorus of critics, however, including human rights activists, lawyers and the country’s influential Catholic Church, dispute the authorities’ claims of success. They say the police has summarily executed drug suspects with impunity, terrorising poorer communities and exacerbating the very lawlessness they were meant to tackle. “This President behaves as if he is above the law — that he is the law,” wrote Amado Picardal, an outspoken Filipino priest, in a recent article for a Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines publication. “He has ignored the rule of law and human rights.”

The drug war’s exact death toll is hotly disputed, with critics saying the toll is far above the 5,000 that the police has identified as either drug-related killings, or suspects shot dead during operations.

Most victims are smalltime users and dealers, while the masterminds behind the lucrative drug trade are largely unknown and at large, say critics of Mr Duterte’s ruthless methods. If the strategy was working, the laws of economics suggest the price of crystal meth, the highly addictive drug also known as ‘shabu’, should be rising as less supply hits the streets. But the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s own data suggests shabu has become even cheaper in Manila.

In July 2016, a gramme of shabu cost 1,200-11,000 pesos ($24-$220), according to agency’s figures. Last month, a gramme cost 1,000-15,000 pesos ($20$300), it said. The wide ranges reflect swings in availability and sharp regional variations. “If prices have fallen, it’s an indication that enforcement actions have not been effective,” said Gloria Lai of the International Drug Policy Consortium.