Cayetano: Duterte’s war on drugs a program to ‘get people out of poverty’ 

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday defended the Duterte administration’s war on drugs as a “program to get people out of poverty.”

In a speech before the Filipino community in New York City Monday, Cayetano decried the wrongful branding of the anti-drug campaign as a “war against the poor.”

“The war on drugs is a program to get people out of poverty. Because no family with a drug addict as a brother, son, or father can get out of poverty. If we have three million addicts, that means we have three million families with a problem,” he said.

“The poor have become common victims of the drug pushers. When they become hooked on drugs, they engage in other crimes to sustain their vices. If the government will not intensify its drug operations, the poor will continue to be exploited by the drug pushers,” Cayetano added.

“The poor cannot defend themselves, they need us most,” he said.

Cayetano is a close ally of President Rodrigo Duterte. He ran as Duterte’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2016 national elections.

Cayetano said human rights groups should visit the country to “see for themselves” how the anti-drug campaign is supposedly making Filipinos much safer in their own communities.

“It’s not to criticize but to show you that in a multicultural world and with different socioeconomic backgrounds and different drugs, you can’t judge us simply from your point of view. Come over and see what’s happening,” he said.

Cayetano issued the statement after a report released by the Amnesty International said the spate of drug-related killings were “systematic, planned and organized” by authorities and could constitute crimes against humanity.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) had also released a pastoral letter and expressed concern over the war on drugs, saying there exists a “reign of terror in many places of the poor.”

“Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account. An even greater cause of concern is the indifference of many to this kind of wrong," the CBCP's pastoral letter read in Sunday masses over the weekend said. —ALG, GMA News