When the President elect assumes office, we expect there will be a war on two fronts.

First is the war against illegal drugs.

The illegal drug problem in the country has metamorphosed in such monstrous level that it necessitates a much drastic approach by law enforcement agencies.

The incoming Duterte administration waged a political campaign to purge illegal drugs. The people expect the new government  will follow through on this.

What the people want is to slay this dragon by cutting the head , and not merely  wage cat-and-mouse chase with petty pushers.

Illegal drug proliferates because it is being protected by  high ranking officials not only in law enforcement but even politicians themselves.

The people want these behind the scene backers and promoters exposed and prosecuted.

Can the Duterte government  handle this?

Much remains to be seen.

The bigger problem is the War on crime.

Criminal is rampant in the country in all economic levels of society.

It is one thing to be hard on petty criminals like snatchers, store robbers,  kanto criminals.

It is another thing to wage a war on the more “intelligent” crimes, like the scammers, the master minds of pyramiding who prey on innocent investors most of whose money were earned from their sweat and tears.

In this category  are the corrupt public officials who have engineered all  schemes to siphon away  money from our public coffers.

Also part of this group of criminals are the smugglers of all types of commodities from rice, sugar, bawang, ajos, meat, crime syndicates, carnappers who have financial means, and many others.

We wonder  whether the  threat to kill criminals also includes these types.

We hope killing criminals is not limited to those engaged in poor and petty  offenses.

The last this nation saw big time criminals face the full arm of the law were the rapists of  Maggie dela Riva who were sent to their deaths.

Another was the death by firing squad of 52-yearold  businessman  and heroin dealer named Lim Seng at the onset of martial law.

Na sampolan.

He was executed in what is now Bonifacio Global City, a military camp called Fort Bonifacio.

Those executions sent shivers down the spines of hard core criminals back then.

Those dreadful executions belonged to a forgotten time.

Today, a new breed of lawlessness has sprouted that the new government wants to revert to the era of the death penalty.

These two campaign platforms are what catapulted Duterte to the presidency.

These are what appears to  be the urgent  concerns of the electorate that the incoming government battle against.

The response expected is nothing short of waging a war is necessary on these two fronts. (By Atty. Jay I. Dejaresco)