Crime

Intro:
Crime is present in various forms in the Philippines, and remains a serious issue throughout the
country. Illegal drug trade, human trafficking, arms trafficking, murder, corruption and domestic
violence remain significant concerns.

Murder In 2014, the Philippines had a murder rate of 9.84 per 100,000 people, with a number of 9,784
recorded cases. The country also has the highest rate of murder cases in Southeast Asia in 2013, with a
rate of 8.8, followed by Thailand. The murder rate in the Philippines reached its peak in 2002 and 2010,
with rates of 6,553 cases and 8,894 cases. Organized crime Organized crime in the Philippines can be
linked to certain families or barkadas groups who perpetrate crimes ranging from extortion, sale of illegal
narcotics and loan sharking to robbery, kidnapping, and murder-for-hire.

Illegal drug trade is a major concern in the Philippines. Meth "shabu" and marijuana "weeds" or "damo" are
the most common drugs accounting most drug-related arrests. Most of the illegal drug trade involved
members of large Chinese triad groups operating in the Philippines, owing to its location on drug smuggling
routes.
Petty crime which in to withdraw cash after dark is a risk, especially for foreigners.
cludes pick-pocketing, is a problem in the Philippines. It takes place usually in locations with many people,
ranging from shopping hubs to churches. Traveling alone to withdraw cash after dark is a risk, especially for
foreigners.

Crime in the Philippines - statistics & facts

Published by Statista Research Department, Dec 6, 2021
The Philippines has a moderately high rate of crime, violence, and terrorism. In 2020, the country was on
the bottom five of the order and security index ranking across the Asia Pacific region. Equally, the
Philippines was among those with the highest incarceration rate in every hundred thousand inhabitants.
Crime rates were particularly high in poorer neighborhoods and areas with larger populations and higher
unemployment.

Most common types of crimes

The number of crimes committed in the Philippines significantly dropped in 2020 compared to the previous
year, which can be attributed to the lockdown restrictions implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, theft was the most common index or focus crime, followed by rape and physical injury. These were
crimes considered serious in nature and occurring regularly and frequently. Alternatively, reported cases of
abuses against women and children gradually declined in recent years, along with cases of online sexual
abuse and exploitation. Meanwhile, increasing cases of cyberattacks have been noted in recent years as
more Filipinos turn to digital services.
War on drugs
After taking office on June 30, 2016, the Philippine president launched an intense crackdown on illegal drug
use and drug trafficking. As of 2020, over 62 thousand illegal drugs cases were reported and about 69
thousand individuals were arrested. During this campaign, those involved with the use and selling of drugs
were warned to surrender and undergo a recovery and wellness program. However, numerous allegations
of extrajudicial killings and police brutality against suspected drug users and traffickers were raised
resulting in the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating these cases of violence, despite the refusal
of the Philippine government to cooperate.

Prison system
With high rates of criminality and limited prison capacity, prison facilities across the country have long been
faced with overcrowding issues, in which most inmates were serving sentences without conviction. As of
May 2021, there were over 117 thousand prisoners in just 40 prison facilities nationwide. The country’s
prison situation was also characterized by high death tolls, with the total tally reaching about 1,100 in 2020.

Illegal Drug Trafficking

The illicit drug trade now poses a grave threat to national security. The Philippines has become a
manufacturing centre, processing shabu in clandestine and not-so-clandestine drug laboratories, even in
Metro Manila. Not only have illegal drugs been linked to the commission of violent crimes, but they have
also been strongly connected to the continued existence of threat groups in the country today. Illegal drugs
have spawned other big-time crimes such as money laundering and kidnapping-for-ransom. It was
observed that foreign nationals are involved in almost all the big-volume seizures of illegal drugs
RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No.68 136 by government law enforcement authorities. For the first
quarter of 2004, seventeen foreign nationals were arrested. Confiscated from them were 297.53 kilograms
of Methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, 7.60 grams of marijuana resin, 7.21 grams of marijuana
fruiting tops, 4 pieces of ecstasy tablets and 392 capsules of Bangkok pills. Nine transnational and 164
local drugs groups were identified to be operating in the country. Out of the 164 local drug groups identified,
16 groups were already neutralized thus, 148 local drug groups and 9 transnational drug groups remain as
a target for neutralization. Countermeasures Republic Act No. 9165, otherwise known as the
Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, was signed into law on June 7, 2002 and took effect on July
4, 2002. The new law signals an intensive and unrelenting campaign against the trafficking and use of
dangerous drugs and other similar substances through an integrated system of planning, implementation,
and enforcement of anti-drug policies, programmes and projects. It defines more concrete courses of action
for the anti-drug campaign and imposes heavier penalties on offenders. It likewise reorganized the
Philippine drug law enforcement system, with the Dangerous Drugs Board as the policy-making and
strategy-formulating body on drug prevention and control and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
(PDEA) as the implementing arm of the Board. To complement such structural reforms in the area of drug
law enforcement, equal focus was given to the effective prosecution and disposition of cases, rehabilitation
of drug offenders, and the mobilization of the community as active partners of the four pillars of the Criminal
Justice System in the prevention and control of illegal drugs. Pursuant to the Presidential Directive to
consolidate the nation behind the war against illegal drugs, a series of Conference-Workshops on
Coordinating and Integrating the Criminal Justice System Towards Effective Drug Prevention and Control
was conducted to coordinate and integrate the efforts of government, especially practitioners of agencies
under the newly enacted Comprehensive Drug Law of 2002, in the criminal justice system including law
enforcers, prosecutors, members of the judiciary, correctional officers and the private sector, for a more
effective anti-drug campaign. Problems relating to the government’s campaign against illegal drugs include,
among others, the increasing number of drug and drug-related cases at the level of the prosecution and the
courts and the resultant further clogging of dockets, the congested jails due to the growing intake or
admission rate of drug offenders, and the growing pressure on the part of the rehabilitation centres to
provide treatment and aftercare programmes and services were discussed during the conference. The DDB
prepared a “National Drug Abuse and Control Strategy”. The plan presented a diagnosis of the problem
and discussed the chain linking production, processing, trafficking, financing, retailing and consumption of
drugs. It also recommended government strategic concepts which focused on supply reduction and
demand reduction.

THE DRUG WAR RAGES ON IN THE PHILIPPINES

Intro:
Last month, the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) completed a review into 52 deaths during
police anti-drug operations (Manila Bulletin, 3 October 2021), concluding that criminal charges ought to
be levied against 154 police officers (Reuters, 4 October 2021). This marks a rare admission by the
Philippine state that it may be complicit in abuses stemming from the war on drugs — which continues
to rage on. While the 52 deaths under investigation represent a very small fraction of drug war
fatalities, the justice minister announced last month that the DOJ will now look into thousands of other
killings that have resulted from anti-drug operations (Reuters, 20 October 2021). Following the
announcement, President Rodrigo Duterte stated his admission of full responsibility for the drug war,
though “maintained he will never be tried by an international court” (Reuters, 21 October 2021). His
comments came as the judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved a formal investigation
into possible crimes against humanity committed under his leadership (Reuters, 15 September 2021).
The government admits that over 6,000 killings have occurred during police operations in association
with the drug war. Many officers, however, have already been absolved of any wrongdoing in those
incidents during internal police investigations. While the DOJ’s plan to review these killings is a
welcome step for many victims’ families, analysis of new ACLED data finds that the civilian toll of the
war on drugs, perpetrated by the state and its supporters, is much higher than the official figures
suggest: at least 7,742 Philippine civilians1 have been killed in anti-drug operations since 2016, 25%
higher than the government’s count, even by a conservative estimate.2 
While the overall rate of violence has declined since the height of the drug war in 2016, when Duterte
first took office, there have been important changes in trends, including a shift in the primary
perpetrators of the war, as well as the geography of violence. 
Anti-drug ‘vigilantes’ — largely assumed to have links to the Philippine security infrastructure — were
responsible for nearly half, over 48%, of civilian targeting during the early days of the drug war in 2016.
Since 2020, however, there has been an upward trend in the proportion of state involvement in drug
war violence.

The Philippine state has taken an increasingly large role in targeting civilians itself, no longer trying to
create distance by ‘outsourcing’ the majority of violence to vigilantes. So far in 2021, state forces have
accounted for 80% of civilian targeting in the drug war. The shift appears to be driven by increased
scrutiny around vigilantes by the media and international community, as well as dynamics around
competing state priorities as the government fights other wars along multiple fronts.  
The geography of violence too has shifted, from Metro Manila to Central Luzon, initially coinciding with
the reassignment of top police officials from the former to the latter (Rappler, 24 February 2019). More
recently, new frontiers have emerged within Central Luzon, with violence shifting from Bulacan
province to Nueva Ecija province — now the epicenter of the drug war — as police in Central Luzon
continue to be rewarded by the Duterte administration.

These trends, coupled with Duterte’s own admission of culpability last month, underscore the need for
an independent investigation into crimes against humanity — especially as the war continues to not
only rage on, but also to diffuse beyond Metro Manila. 

Tomas Buenaventura (ACLED Researcher)

Philippines’ ‘War on Drugs’

Since taking office on June 30, 2016, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has carried out a “war on drugs”
that has led to the deaths of over 12,000 Filipinos to date, mostly urban poor. At least 2,555 of the killings
have been attributed to the Philippine National Police. Duterte and other senior officials have instigated and
incited the killings in a campaign that could amount to crimes against humanity.

Human Rights Watch research has found that police are falsifying evidence to justify the unlawful killings.
Despite growing calls for an investigation, Duterte has vowed to continue the campaign.

Large-scale extrajudicial violence as a crime solution was a marker of Duterte’s 22-year tenure as mayor of
Davao City and the cornerstone of his presidential campaign. On the eve of his May 9, 2016 election
victory, Duterte told a crowd of more than 300,000: “If I make it to the presidential palace I will do just what I
did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup men, and do-nothings, you better get out because I'll kill you.”
https://www.hrw.org/tag/philippines-war-drugs
BONG GO

Crime and War on Drugs

According to this article in April 2019, a series of videos linking Dutertes’s family members
and close aide to illegal drug trade. In one of the videos, an individual called “Bikoy”
claimed that Go – is allegedely one of the big bosses in a drug syndicate – owns four local
bank accounts into which drug money is funneled using the codename “TESOROGOLF-
TSG002”. He pointed out the full name of Christoper Lawrence “Bong” Tesoro Go.
“Bikoy” who claimed to be a formere record keeper of a drug syndicate operating in
Southern Luzon and Visayas, said that Go has a dragon tattoo on his back that bears the
alphanumeric code “COATLIBRA-0018” from the drug transactions. The video raised the
issue that Go is using drug money to fund this senatorial campaign.
Go denied the accusations of him having the dragon tattoo and being involved in a drug
ring. As he will never get involved in illegal drugs considering his former boss also hate
drugs. Later Malacañang dismissed the allegations as “pure and simple black
propaganda”.

In 2020 according to an article by The Manila Times. Bong Go reiterated President

Dutere’s call for the reimposition of the death penalty by lethal injection for crimes under
the Comprehensive Dangerous Act of 2002. “In addition to the strengthened campaign of
law enforcers to eradicate illegal drugs and criminality, reimposing the death penalty can
be a strong deterrent for the commission of heinous crimes. In effect, if we can stop crimes
from happening, unfortunate encounters in police operations will also be avoided and lives
of both police and the public can be protected,” Go said. He also supported Duterte for
having the same fervor against corruption and abusive business practices, taking
advantage of the vulnerabilities of the people during this pandemic by selling overpriced
medicines and supplies. Go said that abusers should be prosecuted to the full extent of the
law.

As part of his continued campaign on fight against drugs. In November 2021, Go

suggested that all election candidates must do a voluntary drug test to ensure that they are
ready to fully commit to the people and set a good example to the Filipinos. He then
emphasized that he is ready to expand the programs and positive changes that Former
President Duterte administration started. Taken from “- Pilipino Star Ngayon –“