Alejano slams ‘bloated’ drug stats of Duterte: nakakaumay, kalokohan!

Magdalo Party-list Gary Alejano and President Rodrigo Duterte / compiled photo from Rappler

Manila, Philippines – Otso Diretso senatorial candidate Gary Alejano on Sunday expressed his frustration over the “bloated drug statistics” that according to him, the President is continuously using to justify his “failing drug war.”

“Nakakaumay na,” says the Magdalo party-list Representative.

“Noong 2016, 4 na milyon diumano ang mga adik. Pagkatapos ng 3 taon bilang Pangulo at libu-libong napatay, imbis na nabawasan, lumobo pa raw ng 7-8 milyon ang drug users ngayon. Kalokohan ito. This is merely a gross exaggeration to justify the crumbling logic behind the drug war,” he said.

In a report by Politiko, the Philippine National Police (PNP) officials on Wednesday admitted that they are unaware of the President’s basis when he said that there are around seven million to eight million drug addicts in the country.

According to earlier reports, Dangerous Drugs Board only declared an estimated 1.7 million drug users in the Philippines.

“Proper statistics is important to ensure that action taken is properly measured and solutions, exact. Without these numbers to gauge the drug war, the number of drug users can arbitrarily be increased, which also increases the likelihood of more people, especially the poor, who will be arbitrarily killed,” Alejano said.

 “There is no coherence in the manner by which this bloody war is executed. There is no verifiable method by which the President’s statistics and this drug list is derived. It is sloppy and unscientific,” Alejano added.

“The drug war is losing steam and these false statistics is nothing, but an admission of its failure. Pawang pananakot lamang ito para hindi mapahiya ang numero unong polisiya ng administrasyong ito. In the end, fear, the engine that keeps the drug war running, will also be its undoing,” Alejano said.

PNP on the other hand cited that the chief executive has “unlimited sources of information.”

Source: Politiko