1.7 million Filipinos use drugs the most
popular substance being abused in the
country still shabu this is
methamphetamine that's similar our NATO
the CCA are very will happen among us el
mapa de trabajo at the bottom you can
agree Scott mo you like fungal taro
until vinieron
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the Philippines drug trade is worth an
estimated eight point four billion
dollars shabu the local name for crystal
meth has for the last 20 years dominated
the market its popularity czar stimulant
fueled by grueling work hours and a
profound lack of opportunities has made
it the go-to drug for those looking to
work longer hours to earn more money but
while the country's drug trade has
traditionally been controlled by Chinese
drug traffickers earlier this year
police in Manila arrested Horacio
Hernandez Herrera an alleged third in
command to Mexico's infamous Sinaloa
cartel one of the world's most powerful
and deadly drug trafficking
organizations we spoke to Colonel Espino
of the Philippine National Police to
find out why shabu was so popular and
the challenges law enforcement faced in
the country what do you think it is
about shadowy this that makes it so
popular in the Philippines if this tube
hmm it's very cheap that's quite easy to
get it and find it yes and the
particular drugs that they are selling
it this get recorded ordinary people
here and what are the sort of main
challenges for the PNP and the PDA when
it comes to tackling drug trafficking
organizations in the country well what
we could say here is the drug trafficker
really have a lot of money they could
buy the no enforcer they could reach up
to the judiciary the prosecutors and you
must have really a strong moral
conviction not to be tempted with those
bribe read so what are the main methods
that you use to target and prosecute
these big foreign cartels on the street
level we are being held by our community
who help us pinpoint what particular
barangay or places in the community are
rampant in illegal drug
with a staggering 92% of Miller's
Berengar neighborhoods estimated to be
affected by shabu we met with an
informant working with the Philippine
DEA to find out how shabu was affecting
her neighborhood in am dealing them in
an informant family in a dialogue lady
boba not even gaga
muscle
the confidential informant has now
joined us in the back of the vehicle and
we're gonna drive into her neighborhood
where she's going to identify the
locations where dealers are distributing
Shabbo into the neighborhood for the
agents in the car so they can prepare
their intelligence for an eventual raid
this house number one one zero two
Porter's in there or there's another one
pusher in here what number 197 the one
with the green color at the left side
the name is this one
what would the big boss are in here so
you've been into these houses and you've
seen handle drugs or do drugs how long
have you been an informant for the for
the PDA yes I recently because I cannot
take anymore
I can't take anymore no just to keep
silent no I wanted them to be put in
jail why do you think chapeau is so
popular in Manila and your district here
we have very no punishment so gangs
don't fail yes the guns don't feel those
drug peddlers don't feel because all the
justice justice is if the death penalty
should come back in our justice system I
think
the best so are you worried for your
safety by day yes when your family is
leaving in this area have you got a
weapon to protect yourself at home
oh yeah we were put at home with a
license do their pushers have weapons of
course with a quarter of Filipinos
living in poverty shabby's affordability
and accessibility have made it the drug
of choice with open abuse becoming the
norm in manila's poorer areas we met
with one user to find out how he got
into Shaban Junior how old are you was
the first time you took Shannon noticing
with our NATO the CCA they are 18 years
old now among the 19 son of amber
Patrice I need to pee in some way in a
building ICL me nakia and I also mom
onion insu mama you mean Samana locked
in so mama never know a yuna and Haley
never lie in the sink oh so do a lot of
people that use it get into dealing
shabby to pay for their habit oh you
bought a Dharan impera yummy bar
material I'm gonna know we decided a
Sunni banana and tarragon Medina oh no
getting bigger and better will happen
among us Elmo possible belonging in a
goofy Scott camo like a big taco what
your parents think of you using shabby
oh sorry
alumna see you father go patina in mind
Eric avoiding pero para el an among
English I mean Paran similarly no matter
in today goes well Anna
Dean I mean day again paranoia nothing
oh girl it's all the little sorry Cindy
demon Tama invalidating Junior took us
to meet with some of his friends who've
been smoking shabu for over 20 years hey
guys
living Baba would be like so this is two
thousand four hundred pesos worth which
would last these guys quite a long time
Russ why do you think shabu is so
popular naginata can come into power
boost to Munna she don't wanna reduce to
an unfailing deep sorry paragraph he
could kill Madhavan but no more us and
that - - Padma golovkin in the money so
when you take a hit of shabby how does
it make you feel
Marama continue to do a lot of people
that use shabbu also then get into
selling it to try and feed their habit
oh I think I have a 7-bit that I don't
want anything she told me at the like a
p9 little things you know who's saying
you know Paraiba apatite nothing so it's
pretty swearing li hot in there and
there's a lot of shabby smokin as they
worried a bit of a contact high but from
what they were telling us you know Russ
has been doing this for 20 years
once you're smoking the shabbu you kind
of locked in for a very long time
there's not really many other
opportunities for people to get help to
get off it sounds like a very dangerous
drug that these guys are clearly
struggling with cheap and highly
addictive
using and dealing shabbu clearly has its
risks we managed to gain access to one
small-scale operation typical to Manila
to find out how their setup worked
so working can you tell me what you're
doing here beeping Bon Ami but I'd be
getting more power
maybe more money some mint or some one
point you know I did not part about the
nine Paraiba this could be how much is
here on the table right now hundred
passing Omega being available you're
very well aware of the effects that
shampoo has on people and the
stranglehold it can have on their lives
how does that make you feel being
involved in this business I mean young
well imagine I've been democratic apple
filling things done an okay time do you
know I mean I began fancying um give
them a lot of dough well I mean David a
London I mean impaired a bunch of them
don't let me know need do you want to
expand your operation to other barren
guys are you pretty happy with the
territory you currently control salmon
or waiting get it on they forgot an
interest Bob anybody to get a seat on my
name and you're ready to kill to protect
your business what was the book bathing
they began open today
so in January we saw a Mexican Sinaloa
cartel member arrested in Manila
carrying a large amount of shabu have
you seen any Mexican involvement in the
shabbu trades over the years but an
overwhelming 89% of narcotic arrests in
Manila this year was shabby related
creating fierce competition amongst
local gangs the gang members took us to
some scrubland
outside the capital to test their
weapons and tell us just how dangerous
the trade has become so what can you
tell me what are these weapons and why
you guys have to use them in the
business that you're in
I mean how's the business over time as
Chavez become more popular become more
risky my Snuggie kindergarten they let
me know but I mean I'm Tara what's up
and only do you think you've ever killed
anyone have it when you've had to use
these weapons to defend your Baron guy
but I listen English you know I mean
again we get a leg up with nothing in
money iiving together they bomb our top
sellers in Srilanka we knew the burden I
mean in my mind giving them to the
police often try and break up your
operation will not be the Bobby all day
long I mean the case of O Muhammad are
we pursued our you know thing they'd
only let my thoughts and they not see
the amount of thing the police aware of
what's going on they're aware of who
controls which areas who controls what
kind of product needs more more police
in the Omar for product that is
happening
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to find out more about the shifting
relationships between foreign drug
syndicates we met with chief inspector
murder gear of the anti illegal drug
Special Operations task force who headed
up this year's arrest to suspected
Sinaloa member Horatio Hernandez Herrera
based on our experiences these
syndicates operating in the country Rd
the Chinese indicates and now the
Mexicans in the law on drug cartel that
started to operate in the country but
lately we have observed the local
Chinese drug syndicates hub cooperated
or worked together with the Mexican
Sinaloa drug cartel and how does that
relationship work exactly the based on
the report
the DEA the working relationship between
the Mexicans in the law one and the
local Chinese syndicates is on more on
distribution of the finished product
coming from the Mexico so Mexico
delivers finished meth or shabu to the
Chinese who then import into the country
yes and could you tell me what are the
main ports of entry and how are they
able to smuggle so much in without being
noticed the drugs coming from abroad and
there's through the customs and of
course the the vast shoreline of the
Philippines the drugs are dropped from
the open sea water in the oceans and
pick up with the some local cohorts of
the syndicate and what do you think it
is about the Philippines that is so
attractive to these foreign cartels we
perceive corruption among the pillars of
the criminal justice system one mayor
was arrested transporting hundreds of
kilograms of meth using the local
ambulance of the municipality well so a
lot of a lot of sort of politicians use
drug money to fund their campaigns we
believe that those arrested government
officials elected in the point
that elapsed 100 200 we believe that the
drug money could be used this coming
election corruption appeared to be at
every level but to see just how true
these claims were we reached out to a
former member of the Philippine National
Police to talk about his experience with
bribery and corruption within the police
force how long were you in the police
force and what departments did you work
in I entered in the police sherry since
1984 up to 2014
monitoring corruption in observation
only on seven hundred cops guru baba and
how did it make you feel knowing that
your work was often compromised by
corruption maternal on deleting the
pneuma did not go animal my uncle
anytime during your service did you ever
take a bribe tang of pineapple
diamond Malati no big a dynamo was a mom
a banana for double is the Messiah tengo
una rima cos he masala dhaba NASA that
Popham Vanessa
Sam Coleman was our boss our opponent
but I didn't bill Accardo so driving
around Honda waiting for phone call from
the delivery guys and his job is to
deliver larger amounts of shabbu to a
number of street-level dealers or then
sell on the shabbu to the users in the
district
Joseph how much shabbu you carrying on
you right now and how much is it worth
Mangrum nicely because um have you seen
over the past couple of years like an
increase in demand for shabu Zenden
binged event but I mean there are many
lane gamma clash Abajo Oh yard
we're now going to follow Joseph on his
bike as he delivers the shabu to two of
the street-level dealers were given the
high demand for shabu Joseph has to make
two of these runs every single day she's
just dropped off some to this guy
whether Philippines had fallen short in
creating opportunities for its poorest
Shabbo is picking up the slack being
turning the unemployed into dealers or
enabling users to work even longer hours
the Sinaloa cartel working alongside the
well-established Chinese gangs sets a
dangerous precedent one that the
corruption ruin the police and
government will make so much harder to
tackle compounding the misery for those
plagued by the drug
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