Abella says war on drugs needs ‘rethinking,’ ‘restructuring’

MALACAÑANG ON Thursday, Sept. 7, acknowledged the need for “rethinking” and “restructuring” the government’s drug war.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto C. Abella in a press briefing said in part, “The fact that the PNP is being investigated, that there are Senate hearings, this indicates that actually the whole nation is in the process of rethinking the way we do — the way we do things.”

“And so that is part now of the entire restructuring and renewing, and actually it falls within the ambit of the President’s campaign that there should be lesser crime, lesser corruption and lesser — also address illegal drugs… A major rethinking going on,” he added.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s war on drugs has come under fire following the murders of three teenagers who, by indications, had no part in the illegal trade.

Mr. Abella also disclosed that the Department of Justice through the National Bureau of Investigation has begun its inquiry into the killing of 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman, who was picked up in his neighborhood in Cainta, Rizal, and found weeks later brutally killed in Nueva Ecija province.

For its part, Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, James Gomez, issued this statement on Wednesday:

“How many more children must die in the Philippines to end this horrific and heartless violence? Reynaldo de Guzman’s family has had to endure the anxiety of his disappearance followed by the unimaginable grief of discovering his body with stab wounds and his head wrapped in packing tape.”

“This is not an isolated case or a mistake, but the latest atrocity in a wave of unlawful killings that has claimed the lives of more than 50 children and thousands of other Filipinos.” — Rosemarie A. Zamora