Int’l community urged to visit PHL, look at it from a new perspective

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday urged the international community to visit the Philippines to see for themselves that the country is more than what is depicted by foreign media. (Photo: Alan Peter Cayetano/Facebook)

MANILA—Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday urged the international community to visit the Philippines to see for themselves that the country is more than what is depicted by foreign media.

“Come to the Philippines and please look at us from a different perspective,” Cayetano, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, told delegates of the National Prayer Breakfast held in the US.

The event was attended by leaders from different religious and business groups across the globe.

“We invite you to come to the Philippines and see for yourselves that the Philippines is not about hatred and violence as being shown in the international media,” he added.

Cayetano, during the event, took the opportunity to discuss to the international community his insights on the campaign against illegal drugs under the administration of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.

He clarified that the anti-drug campaign is not a war against life but a war to fight for the lives of all Filipinos.

“The war on drugs is not a war to kill criminals,” Cayetano clarified.

He noted that the President has acknowledged that there are law enforcers who abused their power, but added that this should not be a reason to stop the entire drug campaign.

“President Duterte is being portrayed in the international community as a ‘violent’ man. But a ‘violent’ man does not want peace for anyone,” Cayetano said.

“Our President is doing everything to make the peace talks successful, achieve lasting peace, and win the war against illegal drugs,” he added.

Cayetano compared the rogue cops in the law enforcement agencies like the Philippine National Police (PNP) to the corrupt personnel in tax agencies.

“When tax collecting agencies become rigged with corruption, we did not tell them to stop collecting taxes, but we cleansed the agencies,” the senator said.

Cayetano explained that despite weaknesses in the systems and opportunities for corruption and abuse, the PNP is exerting its best efforts to succeed in cleansing its ranks.