EDITORIAL – Tip of the iceberg

Police may have netted 20 suspected drug pushers during a dawn raid on a community in Davao City last Saturday, but by the Davao City Police Office (DCPO)’s own admission, drugs are still rampant in the area. The police operation, which targeted the leaders of a known drug syndicate, has apparently touched only the tip of the iceberg, with an entire mountain of ice – to use one of the slang words for methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu – still hiding beneath the surface.
This leads us to a very inconvenient paradox, one that should give pause to those who believe the rhetoric that Davao City does not have a drug problem. If Davao City is as it is being portrayed to be, that is, one that is relatively safe from the reaches of drug syndicates and pushers, then why do we periodically see the arrest and often even the summary execution of suspected drug dealers? The very fact that they keep getting arrested and killed means drugs do get sold right here.
What is even harder to admit is that the so-called vigilantes who have been doing the summary killings for more than a decade are apparently not causing a dent on the drug scene in the city. Dabawenyos have taken some illicit pride in these killers, crediting them for the peaceful atmosphere we enjoy today. In Davao City, we proudly proclaim, it is the criminal who is afraid, not the law-abiding citizen. But let’s have a reality check here: if the drug dealers are afraid, then why are they still operating? And why is there an apparent air of impunity among them?
These questions have no ready answers, but one fact remains: drugs are a real problem, and it will take all of us to lick it.