Sen. Boy Herrera’s speech on illegal drugs in 1989
The drug menace has been in this country more than a century ago. Narcopolitics is not new to this country. When the Americans replaced the Spaniards as colonizers though they did not absolutely tolerate the illegal drug trade, they merely regulated its use and sale.
In Cebu, the American constables (aside from the local police, there were American soldiers who at that part of the invading army later after the sporadic rebellion of Cebuano patriots in 1901 were adopted as law enforcement officers of the Insular Government) were hesitant in conducting law enforcement operations against the opium traders because they included a powerful political clan. Opium was imported from China, though it originally came from India, a colony of the British Empire. The records of the Supreme Court lists cases on violations of the Opium Law but only involved small time Chinese opium users and retailers but never the importers who were openly known to the public.
Decades ago a Senator from Samboan, Cebu championed the anti-drug crusade, he was the late Senator Ernesto "Boy" F. Herrera. He made a speech which proved proverbial and still up to now relevant to what is happening in country. A portion of his speech delivered in the halls of the Senate on September 21, 1989 is quoted:
"Why Does the DrugAbuse Continue to Exist?
In 1988, the total worth of drugs seized amounted to P719 million and the year before that, in 1987, to P308 million. The abuse of drugs continues to escalate at an exponential rate.
With perennial campaigns being launched against drug abuse, and with laws against drug trafficking and pushing in place, why does the problem of drug abuse continue to exist?
Let me recount to you this frustrating tale. On downtownAvenida Rizal, right in front of the Robin Theater, there is an old woman selling magazines. She has an interesting clientele for her wares, consisting of lean and scruffy-looking street children, whose you will most likely see pressed against car windows begging for alms. The vender sells them solvents on the side, at P7 per bottle, or a few pesos less for those in plastic bags.
There is even a new trend in solvent-sniffing, making use of chemicals used to prevent nail varnish from evaporating. This has replaced rugby in popularity with street children.
Under Presidential Decree 1619 on the illegal sale and use of volatile substances such as solvents, the old woman should have been sentenced to from six months to four years in prison or fined P600 to P4,000. A WPD policeman swore that the old vendor has already been arrested several times, but she has managed to return to the street each time.
For there are laws and, then again, there are the laws of the streets. And these are the laws that most people live by. How can a patrolman paid a salary of P1,000 resist the temptation of a P10,000 bribe? How about the scalawags in the Narcotics Command who are said to be on the payroll of these drugs syndicates?
Why Drug Syndicates Remain Unfazed
Let us be frank. We are living in a country where law enforcers can be bribed, court cases fixed and protection from the law can be had for a monthly retainer. As Nacrom Chief David said, while Singapore boasts of a 95 percent conviction rate for drug felons, our country has an embarrassing 5 percent. Out of every 100 cases filed, only 5 are resolved. This constitutes one of the major reasons why these drug syndicates have remained unfazed.
Congress should study the reasons behind the chronic history of low conviction rates for drug-related violations. In a recent speech, David cited this low rate as one of the demoralizing factors in the Narcom's campaign against illegal drugs. He himself said that more often than not, violators are able to fix their cases and therefore evade the penalty called for in the law. A look at comparative statistics of arrests and prosecutions from 1984 to 1989 shows that only a fraction of actual cases filed has been resolved within a year's time."