House lauds war on drugs with fewer deaths
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives lauded anti-narcotic authorities for continuing the war against illegal drugs while decreasing the number of suspects killed in operations.
In a statement on Monday,, Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the House leadership commends the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for decreasing the fatality rate in anti-drug operations by 52 percent since President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. assumed office.
According to Barbers’ office, PDEA voluntarily sent data to the lawmaker showing that there were only 19 fatalities in PDEA operations from June 2022 to September 2023 — under Marcos’ term — compared to 40 from 2020 to 2021.
“The House leadership under Speaker Martin Romualdez commends PDEA for a job well done in the successful bloodless anti-illegal drug campaign. Your exceptional performance, outstanding efforts, and unwavering dedication to excellence have not gone unnoticed,” Barbers said.
“We are looking forward to witnessing law enforcement agencies led by PDEA achieve even greater milestones in the fight against illegal drugs,” he added.
Barbers, who said that he was instructed by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez to conduct drug-related inquiries in aid of legislation, said that current strategies which are “just, humane and without too much harm” should be continued.
“We have to continue strategies in the war on drugs that are just, humane, and without too much harm. Let us avoid unnecessary loss of life and suffering because of violence,” Barbers stressed.
“Like food inflation and the other important concerns we are trying to address, the drug menace is a big problem. It destroys users, their families, and society. Drug lords, peddlers, their protectors, and corrupt law enforcers and politicians are the only ones benefiting from it,” he added.
Barbers, who heads the House committee on dangerous drugs, is currently in the middle of a probe on the two high-profile anti-drug operations in Pampanga — the discovery of crystal meth or shabu in an abandoned car in Mabalacat, and a controlled delivery operation that led authorities to a warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga.
The two seizures — P3.6 billion worth of shabu found in Mexico and P1.3 billion of shabu in Mabalacat — happened just a month apart.
The high-profile operations led Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. to file a resolution seeking a probe on the matter.
Barbers assured the public and Marcos’ administration that they would use the hearings to find ways to strengthen existing anti-drug laws and eventually, help the drug war.
