President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday said his administration will continue pushing initiatives that would strengthen the country’s police and military forces to ensure a “strong and stable rule of law” in the archipelago.
During his second State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa, Marcos said this effort would serve as a foundation for the country’s transformation.
“Our Police and Armed Forces are being strengthened and modernized, to be more effective in maintaining peace and order and in defending our sovereignty,” Marcos said.
The President also vowed that the government will continue its stiff campaign against illegal drugs—which he said has taken on “a new face” and is now geared towards community-based treatment, rehabilitation, education, and reintegration, to curb drug dependence among the affected citizenry.
“Last year, we launched the ‘Buhay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan’ or BIDA Program, and established additional 102 Balay Silangan Reformation Centers nationwide,” Marcos said.
Marcos underscored that the government will focus its efforts on the rehabilitation of drug dependents while sustaining the fight against drug syndicates by shutting down their illegal activities and dismantling their network of operations.
His administration, he said, will also run after law enforcers and their accomplices found implicated in the illegal drug trade.
“Unscrupulous law enforcers and others involved in the highly nefarious drug trade have been exposed. I will be accepting their resignations. In their stead, we will install individuals with unquestionable integrity, and who will be effective and trustworthy in handling the task of eliminating this dreaded and corrosive social curse,” Marcos said.
His administration will not tolerate corruption or incompetence in government, he added.
Marcos likewise said that the country is now nearing a peaceful solution to its problems concerning Filipinos who have taken arms against the government.
“For almost half a century, some of our fellow Filipinos have taken to arms to make their views heard. We are now at a point in our history when their armed struggle has evolved. We have now progressed together towards peace and development,” he emphasized.
The government, he added, had incorporated capacity-building and social protection into its reintegration programs to guarantee full decommissioning of former combatants.
Marcos underscored that the government’s Barangay Development and Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Programs have been effective in addressing the root cause of conflict in the countryside through the continuous implementation of community development and livelihood programs for the former rebels.