Drug war successful, prevalence of narcotics minimized – Duterte

Former President Rodrigo Duterte attends the House quad comm hearing on Nov. 13, 2024. (Photo from House of Representatives Media Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday claimed that his administration’s war on drugs was a success since it “minimized” the prevalence of narcotics in the country.

Duterte made the declaration after ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro questioned him about the accomplishments of his controversial anti-drug campaign. 

“I had to do it because it was demanded at the time and whether you believe it or not, whether you have the statistics different from ours — the government — it has gone a long way to protect the people, especially the children,” the former president stressed during the House of Representatives quad committee’s 11th hearing. 

Castro then asked him if he thought the drug war was a success. 

“Successful po,” Duterte confidently said.

“Because the drugs were minimized. You cannot entirely eradicate drugs because pang hanap buhay yan until now (people are using that to earn money) […] It is a commercial thing, that is of value, and people na walang trabaho walang hanap buhay papasok talaga dyan (the jobless will get involved in it) lalo na (especially) if they are criminally inclined to do it.”

In January 2016, prior to being elected president, Duterte promised to eliminate the illegal drug problem in the Philippines within three to six months.

Months later, in September of the same year, Duterte said he needed “six more months” to eradicate the dilemma.

“You cannot eradicate [that], no country in this planet even the United States — it’s more of a problem to them than us,” he pointed out. 

“Success in the sense that it was minimized but you know I cannot […] Whether it is acceptable to all or none at all, I did what I had to do as president at that time,” Duterte stressed.

This did not sit well with Castro, who pointed out that over 20,000 died in what he called a “successful” drug war. 

Based on reports, Duterte’s brutal drug war left at least 6,000 people dead. 

However, data from human rights watchdog Karapatan showed that around 30,000 deaths were linked to the war on drugs.