MANILA – The mayor of Manila on Saturday said he is seriously considering the revival of his controversial campaign to spray paint the residences of suspected drug dealers in the city.
Mayor Alfredo Lim explained the revival will signify his support for the government’s renewed campaign against “drug lords” and illegal drug dealers following the decision of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to take over direct command of the campaign.
Lim, a former senator who regained his post as mayor of Manila in the May 2007 elections, is more popularly known as “Dirty Harry” for his uncompromising stand against criminal elements.
Dirty Harry, in turn, is the incorruptible policeman portrayed by Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood in a movie that bore the same title.
According to Lim, the revival of his spray painting campaign aims mainly to embarrass and put to shame the suspected drug dealers into giving up their illicit trade or even force them to leave Manila and settle elsewhere.
He recalled that on his second term as Manila mayor about 10 years ago, he decided to launch the campaign following reports of an alarming increase in the number of mostly young drug addicts in the city.
Lim, with the aid of policemen, sprayed with red paint the residences of suspects with the words “drug pushers.”
The mayor explained the addresses of the suspected drug dealers were provided his office by “barangay” (village) officials and even ordinary citizens concerned with the growing drug menace in Manila.
The information received, Lim said, was treated as confidential so as not to reveal the identities of the informants.
His theme in the campaign, he said, was: If there are no drug pushers, then the drug addicts will have no supply.
The campaign succeeded, Lim said, because it resulted in driving away out of shame and embarrassment from Manila the suspected drug dealers whose residences were spray painted.
But Lim added he was forced to stop the campaign when the “do gooders” stepped in, saying that what he was doing was against the law.
He was apparently referring to the human rights advocates who questioned in court the legality of the campaign, especially on the constitutional provision that a “man is presumed innocent until he is proven guilty by the court.”
In his reckoning, the same do-gooders are hampering the ongoing campaign against drug lords and illegal drug traffickers in the country.
Lim pointed out that charges filed against authorities engaged in the anti-drug campaign for allegedly violating the human rights of suspects only serve to hinder them from doing their job in effectively fighting crime.
“If you are afraid of being charged, then your hands are tied,” Lim emphasized.
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