DEPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos said the more than P6 billion in dangerous drugs destroyed by the government helped save thousands of young people from what the DILG chief called “road to perdition.”
A total of 247 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, which was seized at the Manila International Container Port early this month, including 206 kilograms of Dimethyl Sulfone, a shabu extender recovered by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Mabalacat, Pampanga two months ago, were destroyed at a government facility in Trece Martires, Cavite through thermolysis.
Abalos stressed that with thermolysis, the dangerous substances were completely broken down and are impossible to reconstitute.
“Malaking bagay ang ginawa natin ngayong araw na pagsunog sa mga ilegal na droga na ito. Dahil dito ay libo-libong mga kababayan natin lalo na ang mga kabataan ang nailigtas natin mula sa pagkagumon sa bawal na gamot na tiyak na maghahatid sa kanila sa kapahamakan at sa impiyerno,” he said in a statement.
He also heaped praises on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the different drug enforcement units for their perseverance and hard work in the government’s fight against illegal drugs.
He likewise urged the government’s drug enforcement units to relentlessly go after big syndicates to significantly reduce the supply of illegal drugs in the country.
For his part, PDEA Director General Moro Virgilio Lazo emphasized this renewed drug approach: “The PDEA’s strategy, in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s anti-drug campaign thrust, is geared towards community rehabilitation, going after drug syndicates and getting rid of unscrupulous officials.”