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Reuters
MANILA
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs had until three weeks ago driven the trade in crystal methamphetamine underground, according to residents and drug users in some of the slum areas of the nation's capital city.
As thousands of users and dealers were shot dead by police and vigilantes in the first seven months after Duterte came to power last June, open dealing in the drug, known by its street name shabu, largely stopped. Instead, deals were done on the quiet between people who knew each other, maybe with a text message first.
But since Duterte ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to stand down from the drugs war last month, after declaring the force 'rotten to the core', the drugs trade has come back out of the shadows, more than half a dozen drug users and dealers in some of Manila's toughest areas said in interviews. Many spoke on condition that only their first names be used in this story.
Beside one of the less-used railroad tracks in Manila - a grassy area scattered with human excrement only a few miles from the gleaming high-rises of the Makati business district - shabu was easily available last week, costing just a few pesos (cents) per hit. Residents said that when they travelled on the illegal trolleys that ferry people for a few pesos along the track when there are no trains in sight, a fellow passenger will often offer them a sachet of the drug.
In a dark cinderblock room that serves as a drug den in another part of Manila, there were similar stories from users.
More than 8,000 people have been killed since Duterte was sworn in almost eight months ago, about 2,500 of whom were killed in official police anti-narcotics operations. Human rights groups believe many of the others were extra-judicial executions committed as part of the war on drugs, and in cooperation with the police - a claim the Duterte administration has vehemently denied.
The president's office did not respond to a list of emailed questions about the drugs war and whether dealers were now openly back on the streets.
Duterte has repeatedly said he will hunt down drug lords and other 'high value' targets and to date, there have been a handful of large-scale seizures and raids on shabu laboratories. Most of those killed have been small-time dealers and users in poor neighborhoods.
