MANILA, Philippines — The drug war will continue right through the enhanced community quarantine that will be enforced in the so-called NCR Plus from Aug. 6 to 20, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said in the taped weekly briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte that aired late on Monday.
“The campaign against illegal drugs will continue until they [drug dealers] are all gone, even if we are facing a pandemic at this time,” Año said in Filipino.
The NCR Plus — which is composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna — will be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from Aug. 6 to 20 due to the rising cases of the more transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant.
READ: Metro Manila under ECQ from August 6 to 20
According to Año, the “hard lockdown” would require support and cooperation to achieve maximum effect and halt the spread of COVID-19, especially of the Delta variant.
Año has already ordered stricter border control in the region, ordering the placement of quarantine control points at the borders of Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite.
Once the region is under ECQ, the control points will be transferred within the borders of Metro Manila.
Meanwhile, the number of those killed in drug war operations stood at 6,165 from the time President Rodrigo Duterte took office until July 28, 2o21, according to official records of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
READ: Drug war death toll now at 6,165; arrested suspects at 298,348 — PDEA
Other sources have higher figures, such as the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which put the number of deaths at 8,663 as of March 2020.
READ: UNHRC report: ‘Near impunity’ in PH drug war killings, ‘Tokhang’ must end
Still other human rights organizations pegged the death toll at over 20,000.