Shabu seized in 3-year Duterte admin's drug war higher than Aquino’s entire term -PDEA

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Drug enforcement authorities seized almost twice as much shabu in just three years of President Rodrigo Duterte's administration compared to that of his predecessor Benigno Aquino III, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Friday, following criticism from Vice President Leni Robredo.

According to PDEA to spokesman Derreck Carreon, they seized 5.24 tons of shabu since 2016 which is higher than the Aquino admin which only pulled 3.29 tons of the same narcotic in 6 years.

“We don’t want to put any blaming fingers but nevertheless you want a comparison. The immediate past administration, the figure for the past 6 years was about 3.29 tons. Six years ‘yun (That’s for six years). And we are talking about 5.43 with this administration only a little over 3 years. We must be doing something right,” Carreon said during an ANC interview.

Aside from the 5.24 tons of Shabu, they have also  dismantled 14 clandestine laboratories that could have produced 96.65 tons of narcotics yearly, Carreon added.

"We must be doing something right," said Carreon. 

Recently, Vice President Robredo, a known ally of Aquino, said on Monday that President Duterte's drug war confiscated only 1 percent of the 156,000 kilos of shabu that flooded the country yearly since 2016. 

Robredo also said that Duterte’s war on drugs was a “massive failure.” She would have given a score of only one out of 100.

“ Failure talaga siya dahil 'yung kampanya laban sa ilegal na droga, maraming aspeto ito. Maraming aspeto at nakikita natin, gaya ng sinabi ko sa report, na masyado nang natutukan 'yung street-level enforcement, 'yung pagtugis sa maliit na mga pushers at users," Robredo said

“At kahit gawin ito araw-araw, kung hindi naman inaasikaso 'yung supply constriction na nanggagaling, 'yun 'yung pagtugis ng mga malalaking suppliers, talagang hindi matatapos ang problema," she added.

This was contradicted by PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino saying that, the figure Vice President cited was just a "wild assumption" based on police estimate.

" We are not a failure… We are really in an uproar about this... It's like downplaying the sacrifices of all those people who put their lives and limb on the line every day," Carreon commented on Robredo's remarks. 

“The Vice President's report will be a challenge for us to prove that indeed we are making a dent on the illegal drug industry," he said.