You know how the ocean always gives back what it takes? In the Philippines, it gives back something else—plastic-wrapped bundles, bobbing in the waves like cursed treasure. High-grade shabu, washed ashore, found by fishermen who do the right thing and call the authorities. No drama. No shootout. Just drugs, neatly surrendered.
But if you talk to the right people—the ones who live where the streetlights flicker and politicians’ faces peel off old posters—they’ll tell you the truth: Those drugs didn’t get lost. They were never meant to.
They were meant to come back.
The Perfect Little Scheme
It happens like clockwork:
- “Discovery” – Millions worth of drugs “miraculously” appear at sea.
- The Show – PDEA or police pose for cameras, chests puffed, evidence bags stacked.
- The Silence – No suspects. No investigation. Just headlines that fade by tomorrow.
And then? The drugs don’t disappear. They reappear—in back alleys, in dim kanto deals, in filthy rich gated villages, in the hands of the same people they were “saved” from. Because here’s what probably happened: Some of those “seized” drugs never get destroyed. They get recycled.
The Magic of Missing Paperwork
Think about it: If cops catch a dealer in a buy-bust, there’s a case. A paper trail. Someone to answer questions. But drugs that just float to shore? No suspect. No witnesses. Just a big, fat, unverified number on a police report. So when they say “200 kilos recovered,” who’s checking if it wasn’t 250? Or 300? 500? Who’s making sure all of it really burned?
Nobody.
And that’s how a kilo—or ten, or fifty—slips back into the streets.
Why Would They Do It?
Simple: Money. A kilo of pure shabu can sell for how many millions? A few crooked cops, a few missing kilos—who’s gonna notice? As long as the news cameras see something being burned, the public claps. Meanwhile, the same drugs circle back into the slums, the clubs, the neighborhoods where kids grow up watching their uncles waste away.
We’re the Ones Who Pay
The sea doesn’t wash these drugs ashore. The system does. And while we cheer another “big bust” with media as co-conspirators, somewhere, a backroom door is opening. A deal is being made. Not by cartels.
But by the people who were supposed to stop them.
