Former Pres. Aquino on Duterte’s Drug war : “Parang walang nangyari”

Former president Benigno Simeon Aquino III is now more vocal about what he thinks about his successor in Malacañan palace, after a one year sel- imposed moratorium on giving comments or criticizing current president Rodrigo Duterte.

Former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III comments "Parang walang nangyari" a direct attack on the Duterte brutal war on illegal drugs campaign (photo credit to PDI)

The former president was quoted by reporters saying “Parang walang nangyari”  pertaining to the administration’s brutal war on illegal drugs, stating a 2015 statistic is the same with the numbers from the end of 2016- 1.8 million illegal drug users.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella in response to Aquino’s comments, stressed that the current anti-drug campaign resulted to an unprecedented voluntary surrender of more than 1.3 million drug suspects all over the country.

"Comments like the above from past leaders imply a jaded cynicism borne of a history of political opportunism," said Abella.

Abella  noted that there were only 77,810 arrested drug personalities during Aquino’s full six year term compared to 96,703 personalities that have been arrested on Duterte’s first year in office.

In terms of seizure of shabu or methamphetamine, Aquino’s six year total is 3,219.07 kilograms, while there is about 2,445.80 kilograms have been seized by government agents during the first year of Duterte’s war on drugs.

Clearly the numbers will not lie and that if that alone is the basis which of the two is more successful the current administration has the upper hand.

Last November, President Duterte in a speaking engagement during the 80th founding anniversary of the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila, made a statement regarding the status of the illegal drugs trade during the Aquino administration: “Maybe he did not realize the gravity of the drug problem because he simply did not know or never attempted to know it,” he said.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo made his opinion known regarding Aquino’s comments about  and told media that it was “shamelessly cocky and an outrageous chutzpah.”

“The criticism comes from someone under whose watch the drug menace proliferated in unsurpassed magnitude due to the previous administration’s either gross incompetence in curbing it or criminal neglect in stopping its spread,” Panelo said in a statement.