The Duterte administration will carry on with its brutal war on drugs without the assistance of any nation, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. bluntly told a United Nations gathering in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday.
The strongly worded speech of the countryâs top diplomat seemed to contradict the previous statements of MalacaĂąang, which sought international cooperation in combating transnational crimes such as the drug menace.
The President himself earlier claimed that foreign countries had provided him with wiretapped information about the operations of drug syndicates in the country and helped him come up with his so-called narcolist and drug matrix.
âA little understandingâ
âAs always, the Philippines fights its battles alone; it needs no help,â Locsin said at the 62nd Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
â(The Philippines) fears no opposition from any quarter, but it wouldnât mind a little understanding,â he stressed.
âThe Philippine war on drugs has braved withering criticismâindeed an international public relations war is being waged against the war on drugs,â he added.
Thousands of drug suspects have been murdered since Duterte declared his drug war in July 2016, most of whom were gunned down by masked assassins that human rights groups regarded as extrajudicial killings.
Colombian cartel
In defending the Presidentâs violent antidrug campaign, Locsin claimed that the Colombian drug cartel had penetrated the Philippines despite Duterteâs iron-fisted strategy against the narcotics trade.
He also said some âlocal government unitsâ had been in cahoots with international drug rings that had been dumping cocaine in sealed plastic bags off the countryâs coastlines.
Amid mounting concerns of human rights advocates, Locsin reiterated that the drug war was consistent with the UN conventions and the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action against the illicit drug trade.
The foreign secretary maintained that Duterteâs strategy was a âwhole-of-nation approachâ based on the governmentâs National Anti-Drug Plan of Action, which was given a âsharper edge, a longer blade and a wider swing.â
Said Locsin: âAt its core are drug supply reductionâstemming the massive flow of illicit drugs; and drug demand reduction through community-based rehabilitation and the widest preventive programsâa strategy of enforcement, rehabilitation, reintegration.â
Rogue policemen
While admitting that innocent individuals had fallen victims to abusive policemen, he said these were ânot collateral damage,â but were merely âmorally repulsive cases of reckless disregard for basic rights and fundamental decencies by rogueâ members of the Philippine National Police.
He said the violations committed by erring policemen should not stop the Philippine government from pursuing the drug war.
âRather, they are calls to do it better: to address impunity and address accountability; to consider a clinical approach in addition to the current surgery,â Locsin said.
âWith the war on drugs, the Philippines renews its commitment to the state responsibility to protect, first and foremost, the law-abiding against the lawless (elements),â he added.
Meanwhile, Locsin lambasted nongovernment organizations (NGOs) from the European Union (EU) for allegedly funding communist groups in the Philippines.