10,721 high value targets arrested in Duterte’s war on drugs – PDEA

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported that a total of 10,721 high-value targets had been arrested during President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which started in 2016.

Government data showed the arrested high-value targets include:

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  • 287 foreigners
  • 362 elected official
  • 102 uniformed personnel
  • 445 government employees
  • 3,098 target listed
  • 751 drug group leaders and members
  • 66 armed group members
  • 1,035 drug den maintainers
  • 232 wanted listed
  • 18 celebrities
  • 4,325 arrests from high impact operations

PDEA added 266,126 drug suspects were arrested in the 183,525 anti-illegal drugs operations conducted since July 1, 2016.

The agency also noted that 5,942 suspected drug personalities were killed, which was way lower than local and international human rights groups claimed that around 27,000 people were killed under Duterte’s war on drugs.

PDEA also reported that 20,538 barangays were already cleared from illegal drugs, while 14,308 others are yet to be cleared. A total of 648 dens and clandestine laboratories have been dismantled, the agency added.

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10,721 high-value targets arrested in Duterte’s war on drugs – PDEA

Meanwhile, a total of P46.42 billion worth of shabu were recovered during operations.

In September, rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported the number of deaths related to the administration’s  increase amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carlos Conde, HRW – Asia Division researcher, said killings related to the government’s war on drugs increased by 50% from April to July 2020 compared to the previous four-month period.

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“Human Rights Watch analyzed the government’s statistics and found 155 persons were killed in the past four months. Before the COVID-19 crisis, police killed 103 persons from December 2019 to March 2020,” Conde stated.

“The number of fatalities in these ostensible drug enforcement raids, in which the police routinely claimed that the victims fought back, jumped dramatically from the 26 deaths recorded by the PDEA in five months from July to November 2019,” he added.

HRW urged the Philippine government to issue a presidential proclamation to officially end President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

Commission on Human Rights reported how the children of those who died during the war against drugs suffered.