President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said his predecessor Benigno Aquino III did not know the gravity of the drug problem in the country.
Speaking during the 80th founding anniversary of the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila, Duterte made this remark as he criticized the supposed 鈥渟tupidity鈥� of foreign governments urging him to focus on rehabilitation of drug dependents.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know about the stupidity of foreign governments. They call me and ask me, 鈥榃hy don鈥檛 you rehabilitate them?鈥� Correct. That is correct if you have the money,鈥� Duterte said in his speech.
But Duterte reiterated that he is operating on a budget prepared by the Aquino administration鈥攈alf of which, he said, was already gone.
鈥淢aybe he did not realize the gravity of the drug problem because he simply did not know or never attempted to know it,鈥� he said.
Noting that rehabilitation was 鈥渘o longer viable,鈥� Duterte tagged three million drug dependents as 鈥渁ll potential criminals.鈥�
Duterte said Aquino鈥檚 then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who is being accused of coddling drug lords at the New Bilibid Prison, 鈥渁llowed the drug industry to take place.鈥�
鈥淪ome of the agents of this bureau testified against her. I don鈥檛 know them, but most of them are credible,鈥� Duterte said, referring to the congressional probe into drug proliferation at the national penitentiary, which saw witnesses tagging De Lima as an alleged beneficiary of drug money. JE/rga