PDEA Director Aaron Aquino (File photo by NOY MORCOSO / INQUIRER.net)
Since the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has taken the helm of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, only two suspected drug criminals have been killed, data from the agency showed.
In the accomplishment report released by the PDEA Public Information Office on Friday, only two suspects have been killed in the agency’s 2,886 anti-illegal drug operations from Oct. 11 to Dec. 27, 2017.
One of those who died was a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The number looked pale in comparison to the 3,968 deaths from July 1, 2016 to December 27, 2017, which included the casualties of the campaign previously led by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
The PDEA has also arrested 987 drug personalities—29 of them government employees—rescued 14 minors, dismantled six clandestine laboratories and eight drug dens.
The agency also eradicated 18 marijuana plantation sites and seized 41.83 kilograms of crystal meth, also known as shabu.
On Oct. 11, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the PDEA to lead the crackdown against illegal drugs following public outrage over the deaths of teenagers Kian Loyd delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz, and Reynaldo “Kulot” De Guzman, who all died in the hands of the police last August and September.
The campaign, which has drawn condemnation locally and internationally, is also the subject of two petitions and oral arguments before the Supreme Court. /jpv