Lacson Questions Duterte Drug War Budget As It Drops To P2 Billion
LACSON QUESTIONS DUTERTE – Former Police PNP Chief and Senator Panfilo Lacson questioned the “minuscule” budget of allocated for the country’s war on drug.
Since his campaign, President Rodrigo Duterte has been adamantly vocal about his hatred for drugs. As such, he executed Executive Order 66 which established the Philippine Anti-Illegal Drugs Strategy (PADS).
However, for next year’s budget, Lacson noted how the PADS budget was reduced to merely P2 billion. According to an article from Inquirer, the Senator stated:
Ang hindi ko lang ma-reconcile ay ‘yung P2 billion-plus budget for PADS, and this is a multi-agency approach ha. I-compare mo sa P4.5 trillion budget, ilang percent ‘yun?
Furthermore, the Senator highlighted that the P2 billion budget would be allocated to the Department of Health, Interior and Local Government, and the PNP. He added that 1.2 billion would be given to DOH, P664 million will be allocated to the DILG, and P546 will be left for the PNP.
As such, Lacson questioned, “So, sa law enforcement, ang component niya 25 percent. Is that really the strategy?”. Moreover, the Senator asked that if the President has drugs as his top priority, why is the budget for PADS “minuscule?”.
As per the article, Lacson also asked:
Ba’t pa tayo nag-issue ng EO 66? Ang tatanungin ko sana, tinamad na ba si President sa fight against illegal drugs?
The Senator also quipped that it’s easy to say that you hate drugs. But, he emphasized that if you won’t allocate enough budget to address the problem, then the issue would be impossible to solve.
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