Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29) — The death toll in the Duterte administration’s controversial war on drugs stood at 6,248 as of April 30, data released by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Sunday showed.
Of the arrested suspects, PDEA said 15,096 were considered “high-value targets,” including 402 elected officials.
Among those arrested were 364 foreign nationals, 126 uniformed personnel, 529 government employees, 4,043 target listed, 797 drug group leaders/members, 78 armed group members, 1,670 drug den maintainers, 295 wanted listed, 24 celebrity and license holders, and 6,768 others arrested in high-impact operations.
The government data also stated that 25,061 out of 42,045 barangays were now drug-free.
During the period, PDEA data showed that authorities were able to seize ₱89.29 billion worth of illegal drugs and laboratory equipment. Shabu remained the most seized illegal drug at 11,843 kilograms. It was followed by marijuana, cocaine, and ecstasy.
Duterte’s bloody drug war has long been criticized by human rights groups.
In its latest report released in March, Amnesty International said the lack of accountability “continued to facilitate” killings and other human rights violations under the Philippine drug war.
The group claimed the campaign against illegal drugs has brought “extrajudicial executions.”
“Human rights defenders, political activists, and politicians were subjected to unlawful killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and harassment,” the human rights organization reported.
READ: Lack of accountability ‘facilitates’ killings, rights violations in PH – Amnesty International
Through its April 2022 report, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) urged the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Justice to release the results of their investigations as it claimed them to be “inaccessible and nontransparent.”
The CHR even said that the PNP has oftentimes “refused, denied, or ignored” its requests to review documents from authorities.
“Independent and impartial accountability mechanisms — such as the fact-finding investigations by the CHR — have been hampered by the predilection and uncooperativeness of agencies involved in the campaign against illegal drugs,” it reported.
Under the watch of President Rodrigo Duterte, a total of 341,494 suspects were also arrested in 236,620 anti-illegal drug operations from July 1, 2016 to April 30 of this year.
