The Taiwan-based Bamboo Union and Hong Kong-based 14K triad are behind the proliferation of drugs in the Philippines, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday, after barrels of drugs fitted with satellite positioning equipment and covered with Chinese writing washed up in the Philippines on Wednesday last week.
He first made the allegation that the drugs were from Taiwan while speaking at a police academy alumni event on Thursday last week.
Duterte, speaking on Tuesday at an event marking the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Philippine Department of Justice, named the Bamboo Union and 14K as running the drug trade in the country.
Photo: EPA
At an event celebrating the 56th anniversary of the Philippine Constitution Association, he said that the Philippines is a client state of the Bamboo Union.
“The Philippines is a transshipment [point] of shabu to America. It behooves upon America to work closely with the Republic of the Philippines, especially in this serious matter,” he said.
Shabu is a slang term for methamphetamine that is widely used in the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Illegal drugs have penetrated 40 percent of the villages in the country, Duterte said.
He has been pushing to postpone village elections scheduled for next month, citing the alleged presence of narcotics in politics at the village level.
Duterte, who is known for his controversial policy of cracking down on drugs by sanctioning extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers, on Thursday last week reportedly gave police orders to kill his eldest son if they discover that he is involved in the drug trade.
That remark came after Philippine Senator Antonio Trillanes claimed that Duterte’s eldest son is a member of a Chinese drug triad.
Meanwhile, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman yesterday reiterated Taiwan’s support of the Philippine government’s “war on drugs.”
Regarding Duterte’s claim that the Bamboo Union, a known organized crime group, is one of the primary sources of drugs in the Philippines, ministry spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said in a statement that the government would work with relevant Philippine agencies to eliminate cross-border drug-related crime.
A critical component of the administration’s New Southbound Policy is to strengthen Taiwan’s collaboration with other nations to crack down on international crime, which in the case of the Philippines means a shared effort to combat drug-related crime, Wang said.
The statement did not dispute Duterte’s allegations, but voiced support for his increasingly tough policies on drug-related activities.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines yesterday rejected Duterte’s claims.
Representative to the Philippines Gary Lin (林松煥) said that what is known at the moment is that illegal drugs in the Philippines are not coming from Taiwan.
Taiwan does not ship drugs to the Philippines, Lin said, but added that his office was looking into the situation.
Regarding an allegation that drugs were being produced in labs in international waters, Lin said that Taiwanese fishing boats were not involved and that the transportation routes were most likely in international waters.
Raw materials for the production of illegal drugs have been mainly obtained from China, while Taiwanese have provided expertise, said a Philippine source, who claimed to be an expert on the Philippine drug trade.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and