Illegal drugs hot spot

There is this game called “follow the leader” wherein one player acts as the “leader” whose every action—like scratching the head-- has to be mimicked by the rest of the players or they would be out. This seems to be the game currently being played by President Rodrigo Duterte and his people. What the President does, his people follow. What he says is also what his people would say.

The latest example is the President’s claim that Cebu is a hot spot for illegal drugs. Why he said that, we don’t know. He didn’t present basis for it, no comparisons were made with other provinces of the country. No statistics. In short, the claim was open to deeper scrutiny. Yet some government officials, in classic “follow the leader” act, are merely saying amen.

Here’s what Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz said, for example: “The President has access to more information than us. We concur with the President that there is a drug problem in Cebu, so we take his declaration as a guide on how we can more effectively fulfill our mandate as the lead agency in the campaign against illegal drugs.”

Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Chief Noli Taliño: “The big-time drug lords all originated in Central Visayas, then they branched out.”

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña approached the President’s statement differently. He used it to lobby for the return to the city of “his commanders” that Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Ronald de la Rosa transferred last year during the launch of the war against drugs. Meaning, Osmeña agreed with the President.

The problem with the reaction of the three officials is that they bartered objectivity with loyalty. Ruiz, for example, has been effective in his job, which means that he knows well the terrain and the illegal drugs operation here. Yet he is latching on to the vague “the President has access to more information than us” phrase to evade going into a deeper assessment of the “illegal drugs hot spot” claim.

Let us set aside Osmeña’s reaction for now and focus on Taliño’s “big-time drug lords originated in Central Visayas” statement. One, the claim is shaky because no figures comparing the extent of the illegal drug trade per region have been shown. Two, the jump in logic is questionable.

Is Cebu a hot spot for illegal drugs? Define “hot spot”--and where’s the proof?