The Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday there has been an “unprecedented massive reduction” in the supply of illegal drugs in the country since the government’s controversial campaign against drugs.
PNP chief General Guillermo Eleazar noted, however, that the issue with illegal drugs still persists.
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“Our war on drugs has been relentless since it began in 2016 and we have seen an unprecedented massive reduction in the supply of illegal drugs. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the PNP and other law enforcement units have not let up in sustaining gains we have been achieving towards the goal of eradicating the narcotics trade in the country,” Eleazar said.
“Hindi pa tapos ang laban sa droga subalit napakalaki na nang ipinagbago ng sitwasyon ng iligal na droga sa ating bansa at hindi rin maipagkakaila na ang ating tagumpay sa kampanyang ito ay nagresulta ng napakalaking pagbaba sa mga kaso ng krimen batay na rin sa datos ng inyong PNP,” he added.
Data from PDEA show that more than Php62.2 billion worth of illegal narcotics have been seized since President Rodrigo Duterte took oath and implemented the war-on-drugs in 2016.
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Some 303,154 individuals have also been arrested while 6,182 drug suspects were killed.
Thousands of alleged drug suspects have died in the drug campaign that activists—locally and internationally—called out the human rights violations committed in the implementation of the campaign. (NM)
