President Marcos does not subscribe to killing as a way of solving the problem of dangerous drugs, declaring on Monday that his administration shall continue to implement a bloodless strategy in his anti-narcotics campaign.
“Our bloodless war on dangerous drugs adheres, and will continue to adhere, to the established ‘8 Es’ of an effective anti-illegal drugs strategy. Extermination was never one of them,” said Mr. Marcos in his State of the Nation Address (SONA), drawing cheers from public officials and dignitaries in attendance.
The President was referring to the eight major components of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Operations through Reinforcement and Education (ADORE) policy of the Philippine National Police (PNP) under his administration.
ADORE’s 8Es strategy include engineering the structure, education, extraction of information, enforcement, enactment of laws, environment, economics, and evaluation. Acts of killing was not in the list, according to the President.
This was a complete departure from his immediate predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who authorized police officers to execute individuals suspected of trafficking and using illegal drugs under the so-called ‘Oplan Tokhang,’ which led to thousands of deaths.
Mr. Marcos claimed the success of his administration’s anti-drug operations, reporting the seizure of over P44-billion worth of illegal drugs and the arrest of more than 97,000 drug personalities, including over 6,000 high-value targets.
He said among those arrested were 440 government employees, 42 of whom were uniformed personnel, and 77 elected officials.
To further disrupt illegal drug operations, more than P500 million worth of dirty money and assets have also been frozen, according to the President.
Mr. Marcos said the administration’s efforts have resulted in a strong case build-up and efficient prosecution, leading to a high drug conviction rate of 79 percent. He also noted a significant reduction in the number of drug-affected barangays by 32 percent.
A report published by Dahas Project, however, showed that the PNP’s anti-drug operations under the Marcos government were not completely bloodless as there were suspects who died during his first two years in office.
“In our report covering July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024, we recorded 359 reported drug-related killings, compared to 342 killings in the year before that. State agents were responsible for 34.3 percent of the killings during the second year of Marcos Jr.’s drug war,” the organization said on its website.
Dahas is a multisectoral undertaking to produce, and subsequently disseminate, rigorous research outputs that can sustain an evidence-based intervention in ongoing public debates in the Philippines about violence and tendencies towards authoritarianism.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “SONA 2024: Marcos says ‘extermination’ is never part of his strategy in addressing illegal drugs.”
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