MANILA, Philippines — The ”bloodless” fight against illegal drugs will continue under the current administration, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.
Marcos said that the version of his drug war will not include killings of drug suspects.
“Extermination was never one of them,” Marcos said in his third SONA.
This stance marks a significant departure from the policies of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who endorsed a more aggressive approach that included the killings of drug suspects.
However, human rights watchdog Dahas Project from the University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center reported drug-related killings under Marcos’s administration.
The watchdog recorded 359 such killings from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, with state agents allegedly responsible for 34.3% of these incidents.
Marcos said that over 71,500 operations have led to the seizure of P44 billion worth of illegal drugs and the arrest of more than 97,000 drug personalities.
He also cited a drug conviction rate of 79%, with 11,316 drug cases filed before the courts. Of these, 7,038 cases were resolved, resulting in 6,079 convictions, 635 acquittals, and 324 dismissals.
Marcos noted that more than 6,000 of those arrested were high-value targets, including 444 government employees—42 of whom were uniformed personnel and 77 elected officials.
The president also reported a reduction in drug-affected barangays to 32%, aligning with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) target since 2022.
The war on drugs started during the Duterte administration in 2016. Local and international human rights groups reported that the killings numbered in the thousands, including extra-judicial killings.
The drug war began under Duterte’s administration in 2016, which faced severe criticism from local and international human rights groups for alleged extrajudicial killings.
Duterte's approach led to potential prosecution by the International Criminal Court, a topic not addressed by Marcos in his SONA.
The policy on the war on drugs shifted when Marcos assumed the presidency in 2022.
He described it as a "new face" geared towards community-based treatment, rehabilitation, education and reintegration to curb drug dependence among those affected by the problem.