Root cause

ILLEGAL drugs have been cited time and again as one of the causes of crimes. But come to think of it, people mostly resort to drug trafficking due to poverty. Thus, instead of resorting to iron fist tactics, why not fight drug trafficking, criminality and violence by tackling their root cause – poverty?

Illegal drugs are not the biggest challenge to the Marcos administration. It is achieving rapid and inclusive growth, poverty alleviation, transparency in government, and global competitiveness.

If the government has solid povertyreduction policies and programs, there can be a reasonable assurance that people won’t peddle illegal drugs or rob or scam other people, houses and business establishments.

As cliché as it may sound, the best way to fight crime is to fight poverty. The root of criminality is poverty. The root of rebellion is poverty. Unless the problem of poverty is addressed, there will always be rebels and criminals, there will always be illegal drugs.

Why not invest in the agriculture sector that hosts 60 percent of the nation’s poor, and focus on social services such as education, health, pension, and housing?

Radical measures such as killing criminals and rebels, or extrajudicial executions, have been proven to be ineffective solutions to the county’s peace and order problem. They simply contribute to lawlessness and magnify the problem.

In an effort to dispute the much higher estimates of human rights groups and other critics, Philippine National Police has been trying to present its own figures. It misses the point entirely. The war on drugs is not a numbers game and certainly cannot be won by simply pulling the trigger of the gun.