Bamboo triad flooding PH with illegal drugs – Duterte

A Chinese syndicate dubbed as Bamboo Triad is flooding the Philippines with illegal drugs, particularly shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride), President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday.

The President claimed that the triad is using the Philippines as a transshipment point to the United States.

“We are in trouble, this is the first time I would reveal it. The Philippines is a client state of the Bamboo Triad. They have taken over the drug operations. The Philippines serves as a transshipment of shabu (methamphetamine) to [United States of] America,” Duterte said in a speech before the 56th anniversary of the Philippine Constitution Association.

“It behooves upon America to work closely with the Republic of the Philippines on this serious matter. We are flooded with drugs and the locals here haven’t taken in [drugs]…but they participate in the selling,” he added.

The President said village officials are involved in the illegal drug trade.

Duterte pushed for the postponement of the village elections scheduled in October this year because of the supposed presence of narcopolitics at the barangay (village) level. “40 percent of our barangay are affected with this disease, most of them barangay captains. I think they (Bamboo Triad members) are happy because they are protected [since]we have become a narco state long ago,” Duterte pointed out.

The President’s pronouncements on Tuesday came a day after Palace spokesman Ernesto Abella assured the public that the Chief Executive will reveal information about the smuggling of the P6.4 billion drugs in the country from China.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th has accused the President’s son, Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, of being a member of a drug triad. He dared Paolo to show his tattoo during a Senate hearing but the latter refused.