It seems that Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson was the last person to know that his son, Rep. Ronald Singson, was using drugs. Or, like many other fathers, Chavit was in denial stage?
No matter what, a father always finds ways to defend his erring son. As the move in Congress to take disciplinary action to Rep. Singson was progressing, Gov. Singson immediately came out and told the nation: My son is not a drug user!
Recently, as Singson family desperately finds ways to get out from the drug mess in HongKong, Ronald Singson admits that he is using drugs.
Just a user, not a trafficker
Now, the wind has changed direction! Gov. Singson seems buying out the assumption that a cocaine user is less evil that a cocaine courier (or trafficker). And of course with the hope that the will be able to convince the Hongkong authorities that the drugs possessed by the Filipino congressman was for personal consumption and not for sale!
Now, the problem of Gov. Singson is how to convince HK court that son is a drug user.
High Profile Drug Users
The Philippines once again get a dose of high profile drug abuse news.
Alabang Boys might not be fresh in your minds but when the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) apprehended young and affluent drug suspects, we got the impression that the moneyed are not afraid.
I concluded that time that the depth of drug problem in the country is too deep for our authorities to penetrate.
The reason is that high profile drug cases often quickly slipped through Philippine’s public eyes. Easily forgotten!
In the case of Rep. Singson, the issue is not just legal but also moral and social. Let us not take the merit of his case in Hongkong. Instead, let’s have this case as springboard for a national discussion on how big our problem in drug is.
Can you imagine how a congressman get the nerve to bring drugs outside the country? Does this imply that while in the Philippines, he might have even brought drugs inside Philippine government offices?
Now, I believe the news about policemen caught in the act of sniffing drugs. Isn’t this already very alarming?
Politics and Drugs: The Narco-Politics
There is a clear intermarriage of politics and drugs. Narco-politics has become a big un-tackled issue in the country.
Early in 2008, I brought out how Narco-politics could be an important issue in the the 2010 Elections. I wrote, Narco-politics and the 2010 Elections which was regarded by Manuel L. Quezon III as the first to bring up the issue of Narcopolitics with regards to the 2010 polls.
Whether or not our elected or national leaders are using drugs – we don’t know. We can’t also be sure how politicians benefited with drug money in the 2010 elections.
However, from things we see – it seems clear to us. I hope we begin to see even just one side of the big problems of drugs in this country.
Just think of it. We hear news about movie personalities, policemen, politicians are into drug abuse which add to our long list (composed of students, young professionals, poor man, jobless men …)
What’s next if we continue to let this slipped through cracks?
Third Wave 