The first droga war in the Philippines took place more than a century ago. It happened soon after the American conquest of our country: their war against opium, an addictive drug .
It was part of the American military government's efforts “to reform the public morals of Manila’s inhabitants” although it was primarily intended to protect the American soldiers. They regulated prostitution and alcoholic beverages; they banned cockfighting; they closed lotteries and gambling houses; and contracts for the sale of opium to the Chinese were discontinued. One American writer considered these as attempts to remake the Filipino in their own (American) image.
Those reform measures were 'costly'. They killed the sources of revenue during the Spanish colonial period.
It was part of the American military government's efforts “to reform the public morals of Manila’s inhabitants” although it was primarily intended to protect the American soldiers. They regulated prostitution and alcoholic beverages; they banned cockfighting; they closed lotteries and gambling houses; and contracts for the sale of opium to the Chinese were discontinued. One American writer considered these as attempts to remake the Filipino in their own (American) image.
Those reform measures were 'costly'. They killed the sources of revenue during the Spanish colonial period.
“The exclusive right to sell opium,
which was farmed out in 1849, yielded five hundred thousand pesos per annum,”
Charles Elliot (c1916) wrote. “Cockpits were also sources of government
revenue. A royal order of March 21, 1861, provided for the regulation of this
popular amusement. The privilege to operate cockpits was sold to the highest
bidder and yielded the government from one hundred thousand pesos to two
hundred thousand pesos per year. In 1891 this source of revenue was
relinquished to the local governments. Lotteries were encouraged and from 1850
to the American occupation they brought in about eight hundred thousand pesos
per year. Three-fourths of the receipts were distributed in prizes, and all
unsold tickets were "played" by the treasury. …. The trade in quicksilver, salt, playing
cards and, in later times, spirituous liquors, explosives, opium and tobacco, was reserved to the
government and the profits were large.”
The Spanish colonial laws forbade Filipinos to use the drug,
but they allowed the Chinese do it in duly licensed smoking establishments. The
contracts for the sale of opium were revenue sources of the Spanish government.
In the Noli me Tangere of Jose Rizal, Capitan Tiago, surrogate
father of Maria Clara, and a Chinese exploited the opium contract for
rich profits.
In 1903, the Americans found that the opium habit was
spreading across the country even up to the Muslim south. Initially, they
wanted to enforce regulations patterned after the Spanish laws but this was
opposed especially by what was called the “Evangelical Union” of non-Roman
Catholic clergy. The Philippine Commission decided to investigate first and
sent a committee to visit neighboring countries and study their opium laws.
When they returned, they recommended a measure to completely suppress this
vice, modelled after the Japanese law in effect in Formosa.
The Commission enacted the Opium Law (Act No. 1761) in
October 1907 with the view of finally suppressing the opium traffic. It came
into effect on 01 March 1908: opium importation was prohibited except by the
government and for medicinal purposes.
In its report in 1909, the Bureau of Customs said,“The importation of opium for any except medicinal
purposes having been prohibited March 1, 1908, by Act No. 1761, the legitimate
entry of this drug during the past year amounted to but a little over 52 kilos.
upon which only $215 in duty was collected. The effect of this legislation upon
the treasury has been the elimination of a source of revenue averaging some
$300,000, gold, per year. The restriction also resulted in an enormous increase
in the local value of the drug, and the high premium on any that could be
smuggled in has proved an incentive to many [people] to engage in the illicit
traffic. ... Some idea may be gained of the extent of this
traffic from the fact that nearly one and one-half metric tons were seized
during the year in attempts at illegal importation, mostly by Chinese. ..."
To replace opium, and to thwart that law, there were attempts to smuggle a replacement: cocaine.
Thus, through the years, drug laws evolved to regulate/prohibit addictive substances that appear in the market.
Heroin was the menace of the 1960s. It was either smoked or injected. The noted journalist Rodolfo Reyes of the Manila Times penetrated a 'dope den' in Malabon and exposed a drug syndicate. His story earned him awards including the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM).
The current menace - shabu - has created an underground world of its own: users, pushers, dealers and drug lords, and, protectors. The audible/visible scenarios are gleaned from House and Senate hearings, reportage in the print and social media, on the purported "who's who" in that underworld and the money that's involved. There's no money that goes to the coffers of government, but there's money that allegedly pays for the protective cloak over the underground.
