Philippine drug war
Campaign against illegal drug trade in the Philippines / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Philippine drug war, known as the War on Drugs, is the intensified anti-drug campaign that began during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who served office from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2022. The campaign reduced drug proliferation in the country,[23] but has been marred by extrajudicial killings allegedly perpetrated by the police and unknown assailants.[24] By 2022, it is estimated by human rights organizations that more than 20,000 civilians have been killed in "anti-drug operations" carried out by the government and its supporters.[22]
Philippine Drug War | |||
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Date | July 1, 2016 – present (8 years, 1 month and 10 days) | ||
Location | Philippines | ||
Status | Ongoing[1] | ||
Parties | |||
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Lead figures | |||
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Casualties and losses | |||
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20,000 civilians killed (as of October 7, 2022)[22] |
Prior to his presidency, Duterte cautioned that the Philippines was at risk of becoming a narco-state and vowed the fight against illegal drugs would be relentless.[25] He has urged the public to kill drug addicts.[26] The anti-narcotics campaign has been condemned by media organizations and human rights groups, which reported staged crime scenes where police allegedly execute unarmed drug suspects, planting guns and drugs as evidence.[27][28] Philippine authorities have denied misconduct by police.[29][30]
Duterte has since admitted to underestimating the illegal drug problem when he promised to rid the country of illegal drugs within six months of his presidency, citing the difficulty in border control against illegal drugs due to the country's long coastline and lamented that government officials and law enforcers themselves were involved in the drug trade.[31][32]
In 2022, Duterte urged his successor, Bongbong Marcos, who won the 2022 Philippine presidential election, to continue the war on drugs in "his own way" to protect the youth.[33] Marcos declared his intention to continue the anti-narcotics campaign, focusing more on prevention and rehabilitation.[34] By 2024, Marcos emphasized that his own administration has been following the "8 Es" of an effective strategy against illegal drugs, but "Extermination was never one of them";[35][36] Duterte later acknowledged Marcos' "bloodless" drug war due to Marcos' privileged background.[37]