Victory, greed and PAL

THERE are two defining events in the horizon this week: the continuous purging and surrender of peddlers of illegal drugs and the ruling of the UN tribunal on the West Philippine Sea.

The purging has led to naming of five PNP officers and the soon to be naming of 35 local government officials involved in the illegal drug trade. Talk is also circulating about another list. This time media personalities who are in the payroll of alleged drug lords. In the process of coming out with the lists, the public apparently is vigorously supporting PRRD in his fight against illegal drugs. “National police data show 39 mostly drug-peddler suspects were killed since the start of the year until the elections. But since then, 72 have been killed, bringing the yearly total so far to 111 deaths”—and counting. Nearly “5,000 suspects have been arrested in anti-drug operations after the elections, bringing the number of arrests in a nationwide drive to nearly 19,000 since January, according to police records.”