Philippines welcomes Sri Lanka’s recognition of its war on drugs

The Philippines lauded the Sri Lankan government's plan to replicate the “success” of the Philippines’ war on drugs, Philippines state media  PTV News reported. 

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this reaction after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has recognized Philippines’ successful approach against illegal drugs.

“Of course, we are happy that other countries have taken note of our war on drugs, and that they look upon us as best practice on dealing with illegal drugs,” Roque said in a Palace press briefing.“So we appreciate that, but as of now, we still have no death penalty,” he added.

According to media reports, the government of Sri Lanka will begin hanging drug dealers to “replicate success of Philippines”.

Sirisena said he was ready to sign the “death warrants” of repeat drug offenders after nearly 50 years of moratorium on executions.

“Well, I think, we have not reached that point that will hang them. We are still on the level of really using our police, PDEA and NBI and our political will against drug pushers,” Roque said.

In the Philippines, the war on drugs is being implemented by the Philippine National Police, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the National Bureau of Investigation.

The government’s #RealNumbersPH data showed that 4,354 drug personalities died while 147,802 have been arrested in 102,630 anti-drug operations.

As promised during election campaign, Duterte launched his war on drugs right on his first day in office in July 2016, prompting over 1.2 million drug personalities to surrender to authorities.