Bloody Philippine drug war fails to curb methamphetamine supply - VP

MANILA, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte's war on drugs has only managed to curb the supply of
methamphetamines by less than 1% of annual consumption, proof
that it has been a bloody failure, his main political rival, the
vice president, said on Monday.
Thousands of suspected drug traffickers and users have been
killed in the campaign that Duterte launched soon after he won
election in 2016.
Vice President Leni Robredo, who was elected separately to
the president, and recently served a brief stint as the
president's drug "tsar", said vast quantities of the highly
addictive drug were available because seizures had barely dented
the supply.
"It is very clear, based on official data, despite the
number of Filipinos killed and the budget spent, the volume of
shabu supply curbed didn't exceed 1%," Robredo told a news
conference, referring to methamphetamines.
Robredo, a former human rights lawyer, has long been a
critic of Duterte's flagship anti-drugs campaign, the main focus
of which has been methamphetamines.
Citing police data, she said annual seizures of the drug in
the last three years were in a range of about 1,000 kg, compared
with estimated consumption of 3,000 kg a week, which translates
to 156 tonnes a year, worth about 1.3 trillion pesos ($25
billion).
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated the
Asia-Pacific methamphetamine trade was worth as much as $61.4
billion in 2018, up from an estimated $15 billion just five
years earlier.
Duterte appointed Robredo his "drugs tsar" on Nov. 5 after
the opposition leader, in a Reuters interview and subsequent
public appearances, expressed alarm about the death toll in the
anti-narcotics campaign and said it needed a fresh approach.
But 18 days later Duterte fired her after she had exposed
flaws in the campaign.
Robredo said the government must change its strategy and
halt police anti-drug operations.
"Instead of chasing or killing drug peddlers in street
corners, we need to pursue the source of drugs, the big
suppliers. They are the real enemy, not the ordinary people,"
Robredo said.
Responding to Robredo's comments, presidential spokesman
Salvador Panelo, said her stint as the president's top
anti-drugs official had been a failure.
"The fact remains that we have dismantled so many illegal
drug factories ... caused the surrender of thousands of drug
addicts and pushers ... and neutralised high-value drug
suspects," Panelo said.