The drugs war in the Philippines is a “sham”, a bishop declared last week in one of the strongest critiques by a churchman since the conflict began in 2016. Bishop Broderick Pabillo was responding to claims that police have been profiting from the very trade that they are supposed to be combating. “What a sham that those who fight against drugs are the ones tolerating and even profiting from it,” the Manila auxiliary bishop said. “They are just playing us!”
The bishop’s outburst was sparked by accusations that General Oscar Albayalde, head of the Philippine National Police, had intervened, while serving as a provincial police chief in 2013, to prevent his officers from being prosecuted for selling a vast quantity of seized drugs.
