editorial comment Nothing like a little war on drugs to disguise a president's track record.....although this would have been more expected from action actors like Estrada and Poe than someone like Ms. Arroyo.....

President Arroyo hailed yesterday Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for waging his own campaign against the illegal drugs trade and cited the killing "with extreme prejudice" of six suspects in the drug bust on New Year’s Eve in Davao City was part of the all out war against local and international syndicates operating in the Philippines.

The President singled out Duterte for taking the lead among local government officials in doing his part to boost the national campaign against illegal drugs in the country.

This was after authorities arrested 10 Chinese and 3 Filipinos in follow-up anti-drug operations a day after the six alleged drug dealers were killed in a shootout with anti-narcotics agents.

The Davao bust itself came a few days after almost P13 billion worth of shabu and percursor chemicals were confiscated in three separate raids in Bataan and Bulacan by joint operatives of the Philippine Drugs and Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Task Force of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Mrs. Arroyo earlier designated Duterte, known for his tough anti-crime campaign in Davao, to head the Anti-Terror Watch in the south following the bombing attack in General Santos City on Dec. 12.

The first city mayor to be commended though in the government’s anti-drug campaign was Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. after the raid on a clandestine shabu laboratory in a private subdivision in the city.

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