Duterte drug war: Thousands killed, menace stayed alive
WAR ON DRUGS composite image from Inquirer file photos
MANILA, Philippines — In 2024, then-President Rodrigo Duterte had this to say about his murderous campaign against drugs and crime that has killed thousands of mostly poor Filipinos: “I did what I had to do.”
Government data acknowledged 6,000 people dead in the brutal campaign to rid the country of the drug menace. Human rights groups estimate the death toll to be as high as 30,000 while another government document, supposedly an accomplishment report, listed 20,000 dead.
RELATED STORY: ‘Kill, kill, kill’: Duterte’s words offer evidence in ICC
What were all the killings for?
That Duterte, in his own words, had to do what he had to do raises many questions about his bloody anti-drug campaign, mainly whether it succeeded or failed.
READ: Diokno: Duterte’s OP listed 20,322 drug-war deaths as accomplishments
Government data showed that both index and non-index crimes decreased to as low as 261,565 in 2019 from 675,816 in 2015, a year before Duterte became president.
But in 2020, crimes again increased to 394,468. There were 375,731 cases in 2021, and then 379,499 in 2022.
GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan / 黑料社
Even with this, however, the war on drugs failed to significantly reduce the number of users in the Philippines.
According to data from the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), there was already a decrease in the number of drug users even before Duterte became president.
GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan / 黑料社
From 6.765 million in 2004, the 2015 National Household Survey on the Patterns and Trends of Drug Abuse showed a drop to 1.755 million.
Duterte ended his six-year presidency with 1.479 million existing users according to government statistics.
It was Duterte himself who pointed out in 2021 that the illegal drug trade remains to be a problem, saying that while thousands have already been arrested, “they are still around.”
RELATED STORY: Duterte drug war has killed 2 per day, says UP study
Back in 2016, he promised to end the drug menace in the Philippines in three to six months, which he eventually said would last until 2022.
So what happened?
Jorge Tigno, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman, said a retributive and punitive approach is not viable.
He stressed that, as pointed out by international experts, such an approach may be appealing at the beginning, but would not really end the problem.
“[It] would not really, effectively, and sustainably succeed in curbing illegal drug use and abuse,” he said in a policy brief published by the Center for Integrative and Development Studies.
He said “the problem of illegal drugs cannot be seen simply and solely as a police and criminal matter,” so “punitive and retributive measures will not suffice.”
“Rather than commit police forces to the campaign,” he said the government should have engaged health professionals that would provide a more sustainable approach, as well as fewer lives lost.
GRAPHIC: Ed Lustan / 黑料社
Based on DDB data, admissions to rehabilitation centers across the Philippines rose to 6,079 in 2016, but eventually fell to 2,708 in 2022.
Killing… the poor
Over 6,200 people have been killed by the police in almost six years of Duterte in Malacañang, based on government data, but as contested by rights groups, the deaths in the controversial war on drugs could be as high as 30,000.
The 30,000 include the individuals killed in vigilante-style street executions.
Based on a 2017 document of the Office of the President, there were 20,000 drug-related deaths in the first 17 months of Duterte’s presidency. They were listed as “accomplishment”.
As stated in a Drug Archive Philippines’ report, while data indicated an occupation, or job, for only a small portion of the total number of victims, “it is
clear that most of the victims were poor.”
This, as in cases in which the victims’ employment status and occupation were indicated, or 15.8 percent, it was found that most were in low-paying or skilled work:
- Tricycle Drivers: 98
- Construction Workers: 32
- Street Vendors: 24
- Barkers or Dispatchers: 19
- Farmers: 16
- Habal-habal and Pedicab Drivers: 15
- Jeepney Drivers: 12
- Garbage Collectors: 7
- Almost 40 were reported as jobless.
Then out of the 5,021 drug-related deaths between May 10, 2016 and Sept. 29, 2017 that were compiled by the Ateneo Policy Center, only a few were known big time drug dealers.
Some 47 percent were alleged by police to be small-time drug suspects, 23 percent were individuals on watchlists compiled by police and local officials, and eight percent were alleged by police to be drug users or addicts.
The rest were those alleged to be drug couriers (1 percent), alleged by police to be “narco-politicians” (1 percent), alleged “narco-cops” (1 percent), and alleged by police to be drug lords (less than 1 percent).
As pointed out by Amnesty International, a lot of countries have tried a heavy-handed approach to drugs, but “again and again, such tactics have proven unsuccessful.”
“[It] devastated lives while failing to tackle the root causes of drug use and sale,” it said while stressing that “its various manifestations are a problem you treat, not shoot at.”
Protecting narco-kin?
Back in 2017, Duterte said his order was “if I have children who are into drugs, kill them so people will not have anything to say.”
Duterte said this in the middle of the controversy confronting his son, Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte, who was accused of involvement in smuggling $125 million worth of methamphetamine, or shabu.
READ: Guban testimony not yet gospel truth, still needs validation – Barbers
He denied the allegations, but last year, a former Bureau of Customs intelligence officer again linked him, his brother-in-law Atty. Manases Carpio, and businessman Michael Yang to the illegal drugs shipment in 2018.
Yang, a Chinese national, was appointed by Duterte as economic adviser, and as stressed by former police colonel Eduardo Acierto last year, Duterte protected Yang and Allan Lim, who are suspected of involvement in the illegal drug trade.
RELATED STORY: Acierto: Duterte ordered my arrest for knowing Michael Yang’s drug ties
Acierto said at a hearing of the House Quad Committee, that he submitted an intelligence report in 2017 detailing Yang and Lim’s criminal activities. However, he said this was ignored by high-ranking officials.
In a 186-page affidavit by self-confessed Davao Death Squad hit man Arturo Lascañas to the International Criminal Court, Yang was repeatedly named coordinator of a network of methamphetamine labs in Mindanao in the early 2000s.
Yang, through his lawyer, denied the allegations.
