Let us mobilize for Duterte’s war on drugs

It is obvious that Duterte’s reforms are being blocked by his enemies. Their objective is to blacken his image and make his campaign against drug lords difficult and frustrate government reform. They are not bothered that if the drug lords and their backers (politicians mostly) are not stopped the drugs will proliferate and the problem will be impossible to solve. It is a war between criminals and their victims. Before that happens Filipinos must stop them or it will go out of hand. I am reprinting here the post of BayanKo’s adviser Jose Alejandrino which is now viralling in social media. We should not waste time with so-called congressional investigations from the very senators accused of protecting drug lords. Instead we should mobilize as we did in Duterte's Luneta rally to spare our country, the poor and especially the young, from the evil that confronts us.

* * * The Alejandrino post calls the people to mobilize before is is too late.

“Our nation faces imminent danger from the invasion of illegal drugs by foreign cartels. It has infected 93 percent of our barangays. It has impaired physically and mentally six million of our youth. It has corrupted many of our politicians at the national and local levels, and some police and judges.

Since the start of anti-drug operations until Aug.1, some 1,800 were killed in drug-related operations, 10,153 were arrested, and over 600,000 pushers and addicts have surrendered. Of this total, 712 were killed since July 1. Many of these were cases of syndicates killing their own members to prevent them from talking to the authorities.

Compare this to the statistics of the Colombian and Mexican drug wars. In Colombia, 220,000 were killed. In Mexico, 165,000, of which 12,500 were members of the drug cartels.

In Thailand, 2,500 were killed, 280,000 pushers and addicts surrendered. The sale of illegal drugs dropped by 50 percent. 440 politicians and local officials were arrested.

In June 2015, during the time of President Aquino, the crime rate in the Philippines rose by 46 percent. Mar Roxas was DILG secretary and Leila de Lima DOJ secretary. In July 2016 under President Duterte the crime rate dropped by 49 percent.

These statistics came from official police sources. They speak for themselves.

It is clear that the accusations of vigilante killings and human rights violations against President Duterte are greatly exaggerated by the Opposition like Leila de Lima, Frank Drilon, and Antonio Trillanes who have a political agenda, by human rights activists like Cookie Diokno, by foreign media like CNN and Australia’s 60 Minutes. It is also clear that those in the New York rally calling Duterte a mass murderer were not given the true facts.

All this is directed towards weakening Duterte’s program to deny the billions of pesos drug lords earn from their trade. It is a concerted and coordinated campaign by these groups and individuals to destroy Duterte’s reputation, obstruct his program, erode his popularity, and replace him with Leni Robredo who said during her US tour that her role as VP was to wait for something to happen to the president.

There are Intel reports of assassination plots against the president financed by drug lords, some rich oligarchs, and some members of the previous Aquino government who fear being tried for corruption by the Duterte government. This is not surprising. It is no secret the established order considers Duterte a bigger threat than drug lords because it risks losing its power and privileges.

The president has vowed to dismantle the oligarchy responsible for the ills of this country.

So the country faces not only imminent danger from foreign cartels but also imminent danger to its dulyelected president from rich oligarchs and especially LP members. These are the scums and traitors of the nation who deserve to be jailed.

The only way to defeat this threat is to pre-empt it. To strike the enemies of the State before they strike. We have therefore reactivated plan B. This call for general mobilization of all the president's supporters who by now comprise the vast majority of our people is the first step to make them aware of what is happening to our country.

We will let you know D-Day. Please spread around. Be ready.”

* * * Not a few were shocked that President Duterte said we will quit the UN if it continues meddling in the internal affairs of the country. Many did not know that threatening to quit the UN has precedents.

Although withdrawal from the United Nations is not provided for in its charter, other countries have done or threatened to do so.

The UN Charter deliberately made no provision for the withdrawal of member governments, largely to prevent the threat of withdrawal from being used as a form of political blackmail, or to evade obligations under the Charter.

Japan threatened to withdraw from the League of Nations in March 1933 when the League condemned Japan’s invasion of China. The same with Germany and Italy. Nearer our shores Indonesia threatened to withdraw from the UN in 1965. So is it possible for a country to withdraw from the UN?

“Rebus sic stantibus (Latin for "things thus standing") is the legal doctrine allowing for treaties to become inapplicable because of a fundamental change of circumstances) has been narrowly construed (although not referred to by name) in Articles 61 and 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Therefore, under either customary international law or the Vienna Convention, it is unlikely that a state may unilaterally withdraw from the UN unless some fundamental change has occurred.”

Therefore this column does not share Rep. Harry Roque’s opinion when he said that Duterte’s threat to withdraw from the UN is “impulsive, imprudent, and contrary to the interests of the nation.” Even an international body like the UN can err.

What President Duterte meant when he threatened to withdraw from the UN is to show how seriously he takes his obligation as the President of the Philippines. When leaders of countries falter in their war on drugs because of outside interference it endangers the whole world because illegal drugs are an international menace. Moreover, interference by individuals, even if they are from UN, is often being done out of the context of what is happening in the country involved. It must be borne in mind that United Nations individuals do not necessarily speak for the whole body.