MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Friday said the anti-illegal drug campaign of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration is not as intense as what former President Rodrigo Duterte had implemented.
In a phone interview with Senate reporters on Friday, Dela Rosa said this was one of the reasons why the drug trade in the Philippines is increasing anew.
“To put it bluntly, the direction that this administration is taking towards [anti] drug campaign is somehow hindi ganon ka intense sa previous administration, kaya lumakas ang loob [ng drug users and pushers],” said Dela Rosa.
(To put it bluntly, the direction that this administration is taking towards the anti-drug campaign is somehow not as intense as the previous administration, so drug users and pushers are getting brave.)
Dela Rosa, who was also the chief implementor of Duterte’s Oplan Tokhang when he was the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, said there is a need for Marcos to motivate police units across the Philippines to “engage in anti-drug operations.”
“Makikita mo talaga na medyo humina, unlike noon na buong PNP nakatutok sa war on drugs. Lahat ng kapulisan, nakatutok kaya makikita mo ang resulta ay massive din ang result. [May] massive surrenders, massive arrests, massive raids ang ginawa,” said Dela Rosa.
(You can really see that it has weakened a bit, unlike before when the entire PNP was focused on the war on drugs. All the police were focused, so you can see the result was also massive. There were massive surrenders, massive arrests, and massive raids were made.)
In February 2022, data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency showed that the number of drug suspects killed in the previous administration’s bloody war on drugs climbed to 6,235.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court in July rejected the Philippine government’s campaign to stop the ICC prosecutor’s investigation into the brutal drug war that transpired under the term of Duterte.
The decision sets in motion a possible trial if not arrests of officials complicit in alleged crimes against humanity in time of the implementation of the drug war.
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