Daily stories that don’t die

“The war on drugs is wrong, both tactically and morally. It assumes that people are too stupid, too reckless, and too irresponsible to decide whether and under what conditions to consume drugs. The war on drugs is morally bankrupt.”

—Larry Elder

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

SOME P10-million worth of shabu (crystal meth) or methamphetamine hydrochloride) was recently seized in a police raid in Brgy. Tacbuyan, Estancia; P14-million worth of shabu confiscated in Hacienda Sta. Ana, Barangay Palampas, San Carlos City, Negros Oriental; and the latest, P3.8 billion worth of the same illegal drugs intercepted in Subic port, and so on and so port.

Media reports about confiscation of millions worth of shabu have surpassed the stories involving political bickering, expose on irregularities in government transactions, and showbiz.  

Each day, national and regional newspapers are flooded with stories of police raids on shabu hideouts and arrests of small-time drug traffickers. They have become rampant and regular that these stories don’t anymore shock the public. Whether in the front page or in the police story section, no periodical in the Philippines has rolled off the press without a single or two news about illegal drugs on a daily basis. 

Daily news about illegal drugs doesn’t anymore scare the people who are tired and have grown accustomed to these monotonous events in the mainstream and social media.

Since Rodrigo Duterte left office, nothing has changed in as far as illegal drugs problem in the Philippines is concerned. The former president had promised to eliminate crime, including illegal drugs in six months if he was elected in the 2016 presidential election.

He promised the Filipino electorate the moon and the stars and they embraced it by giving him a colossal mandate.

 

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Frustrated Filipinos believed Duterte hook, line, and sinker and 16,601,997 voters cast their votes for the tough-talking former Davao City mayor, clobbering the buttoned-up Mar Roxas, who brought home 9,978,175 votes.

Six months have gone and crime wasn’t nipped in the bud totally. Six years have gone and Duterte didn’t only break his promise, but he also did not terrify or scare the wits out of big time shabu dealers, who have even become more emboldened and aggressive.

Drug traffickers, the criminal syndicates and bad elements in society didn’t fear Duterte; they don’t fear the present administration either. Mr. Duterte, et al are facing charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the killing of thousands of so-called “small fries” in the bloody war against illegal drugs, not against the big fishes. 

Were those “small fries” only made as sacrificial lambs to promote and deodorize the past administration’s reputation as no none-sense crime buster and paragon of law and order?  

Will Filipinos make another mistake when they elect their next president in 2028? Will they succumb to another false prophet who will again promise them the moon and paradise?

 

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AVOIDING MENTAL LAZINESS. From the chin down no man is worth much more than a dollar or two a day. 

Even what we do with our hands depends for its value on the amount of sense we use. 

We can train and improve our mind as well as our fingers. 

Mental laziness is the most common disease.

Let's put in a certain amount of time every day at making our brain more efficient. 

Let’s read. Let’s study. Let’s think. 

Let’s not fritter away all our spare time. 

It’s all habit. We can get used to hard study as well as to hard work. And it pays. 

Let’s improve ourselves from the chin up.

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One in 10 people believe attitude is the sexiest factor…On average, 20 percent of women who live with their boyfriends have another sex partner. (Source: Facts About Sex)…Plato, a Greek philosopher who was 29 when Socrates was meted a death sentence, claimed sexual intercourse is "the most ridiculous" of all human activities. But humanity can't survive without sexual intercourse because its primary purpose is procreation. Plato was single when he died in his sleep at age 85 after a night of dancing…Beautiful home-grown orchids known as dendrobium produce long, graceful sprays of flowers that are typically white, lavender or a combination of the two, during fall and winter. Their flowers can remain open about three to four weeks, and they are one of the easiest plants to care for.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)