The Philippine National Police acting provincial director of Negros Oriental, Senior Supt. Harris Fama, reported yesterday a perceived scarcity of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, in Dumaguete City. This comes as the PNP in the province enters its second week of massive and intensified anti-illegal drugs campaign that has led to the voluntary surrender of more than 2,000 supposed drug pushers and users in from July 1 to 6, Fama said. He said two “drug users” he spoke to yesterday morning told him that there was a decline in the availability of shabu in the local market. The self-confessed users claim the last time they bought shabu was on Tuesday, but on Wednesday and Thursday, they could no longer find any, Fama said. He said he believes the scarcity of shabu is a direct offshoot of the twin PNP campaigns, Oplan TokHang and Project Double Barrel, to address the growing illegal drugs problem. Fama said the availability of shabu, especially with the street level users is slowly declining, although intelligence operatives have to validate this yet. It could be that the supply chain has been cut off, whether locally or coming from outside of Dumaguete, or that suppliers or pushers are withholding the shabu, fearing arrest in the midst of the relentless drive against the illegal drugs trade, he added. The message here is that shabu is slowly disappearing and this is a good accomplishment for the police, Fama pointed out. DAILY STAR: Negros Oriental
I would love to see the drug trade significantly reduced or eliminated but the users are addicts, so it is not like giving up coca-cola, but much more difficult. Controlling supply is a good start but there will be other problems created. I hope the government has more solutions than just arresting or shooting those involved in the drug business. I do not disagree with arresting or killing when appropriate. Most users have the characteristic of selling to their friends, so the decline of Shabu will cause economic issues to rise, as their meager incomes are reduced on the street. The kingpins, well burn down where they live, and build a new jail to replace the Bilibid prison complex. AS supply dwindle a few things will happen. If shabu is as habit/addictive forming as it has been decried this could cause problems. First prices will go up, putting more pressure for more money on the users to generate income for their habits. Secondly, since I assume (maybe wrongly) that most users do not have highly sought after work skills it may just increase the need for generating quick money through illegal activities like burglaries. (Note I got a bag of raincoats and food products removed from my motorcycle last evening from in front of one of the new restaurants in town, which had no security personnel, and the street lights were not working. The stuff was not worth stealing. This situation could become bigger. ) The problem is not an easy one to solve... besides reducing the availablity the demand has to also be reduced significantly. Living in poverty, with little hope for advancement creates a need for "escapism" and drugs fill that need many times.
So it's kinda like Davao's huge reduction in crime in the past 20 years.....all about how people "feel" and not actually based off of any hard statistics? “Your opinion is your opinion, your perception is your perception–do not confuse them with “facts” or “truth”. Wars have been fought and millions have been killed because of the inability of men to understand the idea that EVERYBODY has a different viewpoint.” – John Moore
As reported by the Sunstar Bacolod on July 9th, here are the reported numbers of drug dealers/pushers who have so far surrendered: - Those who have turned themselves in at Guihulngan City were 475, Sibulan, 467, Tanjay City, 241, San Jose, 165, Bais City, 154, Dauin, 146, Amlan, 145, Bayawan City, 129, Tayasan, 65, Vallehermoso, 60, Zamboanguita, 59, Basay, 56, Dumaguete City, 47, Sta. Catalina, 42, Mabinay and Bindoy, 39 each, Ayungon, 32, La Libertad, 23, Manjuyod, 19, Pamplona, 16, Siaton, 13, Valencia, 8, Bacong, 7, Canlaon City 6, and Jimalalud, 3. Does anyone else spot something odd about this? Dumaguete has a population of approximately 131,377 (2015 census), yet only 47 surrendered so far. Guihulngan having a population of 93,675 has 475 surrendees. Sibulan with 51,519, having 467, etc etc I think things are going to get fairly hectic pretty soon, within the city boundaries. Coupled with NOPPC Fama being replaced by Camp Crame, for a harder more efficient commander or so one is led to believe. I'm reminded of the old Chinese curse: - "May you live in 'interesting' times."
I wonder what they are doing with all those who surrendered? The big pushers I can see putting in prison but the average user and local small time dealer which is likely the majority of these there aren't room in the prisons or funds for it. Further it doesn't sound so good when the choice is death or prison if you do turn yourself in. I'm hoping they actually instead do something good for those who turn themselves in and are lower offenders. I hope they put something in place such as a work program and/or training programs for those who turn themselves in or even quit the habit and want to clean up their lives after. I don't see it likely happening when unemployment is already so high and many small business's already can't afford minimum wage and stay affordable for local customers.
Fama said the availability of shabu, especially with the street level users is slowly declining, although intelligence operatives have to validate this yet. Sorry, I didn't catch that. What sort of operators are we talking about here? I could have swore I heard intelligence operators. But I'm not sure the editors could have published that with a straight face. I wasn't aware such a force existed in this country. If this is true, then this is my first criticism of the president. Why is the Philippines wasting precious intelligence operators on the campaign against drugs? Why can't we instead have them provide customer service?
