Duterte wants destruction of all seized illegal drugs

October 6, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Monday night the concerned government agencies to destroy all confiscated illegal drugs so that they could no longer be recycled by unscrupulous individuals.

"I want all the shabu residual or otherwise, however, minimal, destroy the whole of it by next week. You have so many days to do it one week. Do it in one week. Destroy and get specimen," Duterte said in a taped televised message.

He said he did not want the seized contraband to be kept further.

"We go by science, there's the experiment. Why do we have to put on our shoulders the burden of keeping a contraband or merchandise that can be stolen and used, and recycled?" the President said, citing some instances in the past.

Based on the current practice, confiscated illegal drugs are not immediately destroyed as they still have to be presented in court as part of evidence against the accused.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is the lead agency in the fight against illegal drugs and it is the one conducting the destruction of the confiscated contraband whenever it is no longer needed in the litigation of the case.

Duterte, who declared war against illegal drugs when he assumed the presidency in 2016, said he wants to improve the situation.

"So, we can more or less improve things, better protect the Filipino people while doing a concerted action immediately after just a few - I hope the Supreme Court will agree with me - just a few days after, they should be destroyed and be accounted for accurately. But as I said, sans the practice of stealing and recycling. But that is another thing," the President added. Celerina Monte/DMS