Duterte’s message

Whenever President Rodrigo Duterte touched the illegal drug issue, major international media organizations would have their day treating it as a big story. Take for example the speech Duterte delivered during the 120th Founding Anniversary of the Philippine Navy last Tuesday, in which he told drug dealers that they should stay in jail if they want to live longer.

Fox News and other international wire agencies immediately carried the story and circulated it to their overseas audience. What caught the eyes of Filipinos who heard or read it is that it was again Cebu that is the center of the president’s message to drug suspects.

“You know if I were you guys in Cebu, stay in jail. You want to live longer? Stay in jail. Look for your own reason to be in jail. Do not go out of that facility. It would not be healthy for you,” Fox News quoted Duterte as saying.

Duterte has been declaring that Cebu is still on top of the list of areas where illegal drug trade is rampant. Few days ago, while visiting the province, he again accused Daanbantayan Mayor Vicente Loot, a former police general, claiming that a room in Loot’s house was once flooded with illegal drugs.

How serious is the drug problem in Cebu? Well, we have to admit that with daily police operations, illegal drug trade has certainly been the biggest problem local authorities have to contend with.

Those daily arrests of pushers in the metro and across the province only confirmed Duterte’s pronouncement about the seriousness of the drug problem in Cebu. Good thing the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency are doing their job.

However, the effort of the authorities seems not enough. While we cannot totally eradicate illegal drugs, the fact that they continue to circulate in big quantity amid the intensified crackdown must be the reason why Duterte keeps singling out Cebu.