The facade of the headquarters of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Quezon City. (Photo from the PDEA Facebook account)
MANILA, Philippines — A total of 6,252 drug suspects were killed in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against illegal drugs as of May 31, said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Tuesday.
This was reported by the PDEA through its Real Numbers PH report — a regular update on drug war statistics.
The report shows that apart from over 6,000 deaths, 345,216 suspects were arrested in the 239,218 total drug operations started by the anti-narcotics operatives since Duterte took office.
Meanwhile, the report also showed that 10,112 barangays have yet to be “cleared” of illegal drugs, while 25,361 have been proclaimed “cleared;” 6,573 others, on the other hand, were tagged as “drug unaffected.”
PDEA also claimed that 15,271 of the arrested suspects were “high-value targets,” broken down as follows:
- 364 foreigners
- 406 elected officials
- 127 uniformed personnel
- 533 government employees
- 4,052 targets listed
- 800 drug group leaders and members
- 78 armed group members
- 1,719 drug den maintainers
- 295 on wanted lists
- 24 celebrities or licensed professionals
- 6,873 from high-impact operations
Meanwhile, 4,414 children ages four to 17 were also rescued during the anti-drug operations.
The total value of narcotics confiscated amounts to P89.79 billion. Crystal meth or shabu continues to be the most seized illegal drug with 11,911 kg, followed by marijuana with 10,523.07 kg, cocaine with 530.24 kg, and ecstasy with 163,549 pieces.
The drug war has been widely criticized not just in the Philippines but internationally. Rights groups and watchdogs claim that deaths reached more than 20,000 during the Duterte administration
The Commission on Human Rights released a 48-page report titled “Investigated Killings In Relation to the Anti-Illegal Drug Campaign.” In it, the CHR concluded that police officers involved in the “drug war” showed “intent to kill” and used “excessive force” in its anti-illegal drug operations.
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