JUNE 2018

The Philippine
Government’s
Anti-Drug Campaign:
Emerging Evidence
and Data
THE PHILIPPINE
GOVERNMENT’S
ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN:
EMERGING EVIDENCE
AND DATA

ATENEO POLICY CENTER

 The 2016 presidential race placed the problem of illicit drugs
front and center of the national agenda. Candidate Rodrigo
Duterte ran, and won, on a platform of fixing the drug problem,
which he claimed would “destroy the country.” According to
the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, some 1.8 million
Filipinos were using drugs in 2015, less than 2% of the
population. Over 95% of drug arrests that year were linked
to the use of crystal methamphetamine, popularly known as
shabu. In 2015, according to PDEA, a third of barangays in the
Philippines were struggling with the problem of drugs.1

Once in office, the Duterte administration launched a

nationwide campaign against illegal drugs that was focused
on law enforcement. The Philippine National Police was
deployed to implement “Oplan Double Barrel,” aimed largely at
identifying and “neutralizing” users and distributors of illegal
drugs at the grassroots level. Police efforts were intended
to address both the supply of, and demand for, illicit drugs
by targeting both low-level drug users and “high-value” drug
suspects.

The government reported that between July 2016 and May 15,
2018, 1.3 million drug suspects surrendered to the authorities;
143,335 “drug personalities” were arrested; 99,485 police
© Ateneo School of Government 2018 operations were conducted; and 2,678.61 kilos of shabu
were seized.2 In all, 4,279 drug suspects have been killed in
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored
police operations. In addition, there are 22,983 “deaths under
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in investigation” by the police that are apparently drug related.3
any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photographic, recording
or otherwise, without appropriate This intensified campaign against illegal drugs has been
authorization or permission from the
Ateneo School of Government. controversial because of the large numbers of Filipinos killed
during police operations, the spread of vigilante-style killings,
Please address all inquiries to:
Ateneo Policy Center
Ateneo School of Government
Pacifico Ortiz Hall, Fr. Arrupe Road, 1 Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, 2015 Annual Report. http://
Social Development Complex, pdea.gov.ph/images/AnnualReport/2015AR/AR2015page1to37.pdf
Ateneo de Manila University
Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights 1108
2 Martin Sadongdong, “Over 4,200 slain, 143 K arrested in drug war
Phone: (02) 426-5997 -- #RealNumbersPH Year 2,” Manila Bulletin, May 29, 2018
Email: ASOG@ateneo.edu
3 Cecile Suerte Felipe, “PNP: 22,983 deaths under inquiry since drug
Design and layout by Gianne Gaoiran
Photos by Raffy Lerma war launched,” Philippine Star, June 11, 2018.

5
 and allegations of extrajudicial summary executions of drug
suspects. Barangay officials, along with law-enforcement
agencies, have also been criticized for employing tactics that
violated the privacy and other rights of citizens. These include
mandatory house-to-house surveys on drug use, compulsory
drug tests, and the compilation of “drug watchlists” that made
residents the target of arrests or killings.

There has been scant evidence-based assessments of

the effectiveness of the current government’s anti-drug
campaign. Our aim is to assemble a multidisciplinary team
of researchers to provide an evidence base to assess the
economic, political, psychological, legal, and social costs
and benefits of the government’s campaign. In doing so, we
hope to help the public get a more informed and nuanced
understanding of the complex landscape of drug policing and
drug policy.

The Philippines has a significant level of drug use and a robust

The drug drug trade. However, there is little evidence that, almost two Alleged drug users are
handcuffed after being arrested
years into the government’s anti-drug campaign, the singular
problem focus on enforcement-led and punitive solutions is working. It
in a police operation conducted
at the house of alleged drug
is also possible that strong-armed policing may be crowding and other agencies involved in it vulnerable to accusations pusher Joseph Salvador in
out sustainable and effective solutions such as health and of abuse. For sure, a 2018 Gallup poll showed that Filipinos Quezon City on November
community-based approaches to drug recovery. felt safer walking the streets alone at night than they 10, 2016. According to police,
did some years ago. In 2017, a Social Weather Stations drug paraphernalia, a weighing
scale, and 11 sachets of
We highlight three key problems with the primacy of punitive survey showed that most Filipinos support the anti-drug
methamphetamine or “shabu”
approaches: campaign. But more than 90 percent of them also said that were recovered from the
it was important for drug suspects to be captured alive, operation.
rather than dead. They were also split on whether to believe
1. There is little, if any, evidence that there are fewer
the police when it said drug suspects were killed because
drugs on the streets. Anecdotal as well as news reports PHOTO BY RAFFY LERMA
they resisted arrest. Three out of four surveyed said they
say that the drug trade continues although it has been
were afraid that they or someone they knew would be
driven underground. Shabu, in particular, remains popular
targeted by the police.1 Aggressive policing, therefore,
because it is affordable and available through a grassroots
distribution network.
1 Social Weather Stations, “First Quarter 2017 Social Weather
Survey,” April 18, 2017. https://www.sws.org.ph/downloads/media_release/
2. The tactics and strategies inherent in the design and
pr20170418%20-%20Opinion%20on%20the%20campaign%20against%20
implementation of the anti-drug campaign make the police
illegal%20drugs%20and%20on%20EJK%20(Special%20Report_FINAL).pdf

6 7

A police officer casts a shadow
on the crime scene where the
body of alleged drug pusher
Jesus Jonas lies lifeless on
the street after he was killed in
a police buy-bust operation at
Barangay Del Monte, Quezon City
on October 8, 2016. According
to the police, Jonas was among
the top drug dealers in their
watchlist.
PHOTO BY RAFFY LERMA
8 9
may have added to a sense of public safety but it may also
have damaged the public’s trust in institutions of justice
and law enforcement. This trust will be difficult to rebuild.
Internationally, the “war on drugs” has also tarnished the
country’s reputation for upholding human rights, rule of
law, and due process.
3. One of the hidden costs of the so-called “war on
drugs” is the toll that it has taken on poor families who
have lost loved ones to the drug killings. Many of them are
traumatized by having witnessed the violence done to their
kin and have no means of providing for their most basic
needs, as in many cases those targeted by the police are
their family’s breadwinners. We have yet to fully understand
the potential long-term impact of such violence on the
psychological well-being of thousands children, widows,
grandparents, and entire communities who have lost their
sense of safety and trust.
By reviewing international experience and generating
an empirical evidence base of credible information, the The solutions
government’s anti-drug policies can be monitored and
evaluated for effectiveness. There is a growing body of
evidence from all around the world that suggests that drugs
should be dealt with as a public health, rather than law
enforcement, issue. One study on 50 years of the global war
on drugs says that it has failed to limit drug availability and
that “global trends in drug use – particularly high-risk use –
[have been] rising consistently over the past half-century and
illegal drugs [are] cheaper and more available than ever.”1
The Philippines needs anti-drug policies, approaches, and
tactics that are responsive to the emerging evidence from
around the world and to the changing contexts of drug use.
Instead of punitive approaches, the following approaches may
be considered:
1. Health-based rehabilitation programs adapted to
Filipino culture and communities. These have been
shown to reduce recidivism rates significantly and lead to
secondary benefits such as community protection. These
community-based programs have also been shown to be
more effective for dealing with the majority of drug users
who are not severely addicted to illicit substances.2
2. Enforcement actions focused on reducing supply by
investing time and resources on in-depth investigations
that will result in the capture of high-level drug suppliers
rather than low-level dealers. Any enforcement action,
regardless of target and of nature of the violation, must be
conducted within the bounds of law and due process.
1 “The War on Drugs: Threatening Public Health, Spreading Disease
and Death,” from Count the Costs, http://www.countthecosts.org/sites/
default/files/Health-briefing.pdf
2 Ma. Regina Hechonova, et.al., “The Development of Community-
Based Drug Intervention for Filipino Drug Users,” Journal of Pacific Rim
Psychology, February 2018.
 3. Reduction of demand by investing in prevention
programs that are informed by a rigorous study of reasons
for why individuals start and sustain drug-use.
Any and all policies, programs, strategies, and tactics must be
informed by a credible evidence base, conducted with respect
for human rights and the rule of law, and operationalized
within the context of sound governance systems. Otherwise,
any gains derived from anti-drug campaigns will be difficult to
sustain.
The government’s anti-drug campaign has many moving
The role parts, with the PNP often holding the reins at the national
level with varying roles assigned to local governments. Local
of local government officials, including barangay captains, play a key
governments role in the execution of the campaign. At least two provisions
in the operational documents of Oplan Double Barrel, PNP
Command Memorandum Circular No. 16-2016 issued by the
PNP chief, suggest close and regular coordination between
the police and local officials.
The anti-drug campaign is clearly a central government
program. Given the widespread claims and growing evidence
of the involvement of the police and some government
officials in the illegal drugs trade, a strong central policy has
been deemed necessary. But, in the course of implementing
this anti-drug effort, local officials, such as provincial
governors, city and municipal mayors, and barangay kapitans
and kagawads, have been tasked to cooperate with the police.
Responses to this directive, however, have not been uniform.
Some barangays have very high death rates, others have
far lower (in some cases zero). The varied experiences of
local cities/barangays with community-based rehabilitation
programs and where killings are low or non-existent,
shows that the community leaders (e.g. barangay officials,
church leaders, police) can work together to pursue a more
restorative approach consistent with the duty of the local
officials to ensure the general welfare of their citizens.
10
According to the PDEA, there have been over 1.3 million
surrenderers. All surrenderees are supposed to go through Restorative
assessment or evaluation and diagnosis, then referred, if
appropriate, to rehabilitation facilities. Only a small fraction, approaches
a reported 189,816, of those who have surrendered, however,
have undergone and completed recovery and wellness
to stemming
programs in community centers. The focus on enforcement drug use in
and punitive strategies have crowded out solutions that have a
more restorative approach to drug use.
communities
Given that the various levels of local governments have
a clear mandate and directive to run their own programs
against drug use in their areas, it is well within their powers
to actively support community-based drug initiatives. Some
local governments have implemented programs like drug
education, community service, recreational activities, and
counseling. Such rehabilitation efforts have been criticized
by many, including President Duterte for being not only
ineffective but also too expensive. Local and international
experience, however, reveals a uniform positive experience
with success rates of community and health-based drug
rehabilitation and recovery programs.
Addressing drug use and dependence requires a nuanced
understanding of the local situation within which substances
are purchased and consumed, and a full awareness that drug
users are individual people in specific contexts. Illicit drug
use is often found to co-exist with economic, social, and legal
problems for individuals, and can be traced back to a variety
of causes including biological, social, and psychological
dimensions.1 Accepting that illegal drug use is a health
condition rather than simply a form of criminal offense, means
that it is best addressed by the health care system.
1 The health and social consequences of drug use are discussed in
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2017, https://
www.unodc.org/wdr2017/index.html.
11
 The Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP)
Community- Taskforce on Drug Recovery Support reviewed experiences
and success rates of community-based drug recovery
based drug programs and similar interventions. One example is a

treatment community-based program called Katatagan Kontra Droga

sa Komunidad. It starts from the premise that drug use is
learned and can be unlearned through planned and well-suited
therapeutic strategies. A 12-module program was designed
based on accepted theories of Motivational Interviewing,
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, and Family
Systems Theory.

Initial experiences from pilot-testing this program in selected

barangays of Quezon City among low to mid-risk illicit drug
users suggest a high likelihood of recovery. Specifically,
they find an increase in coping skills of users, a decrease in
symptoms of drug use dependence, and improvements in
psychological well-being.

The main drivers of successful implementation of community-

based drug treatment programs are a mix of family, social,
The coffin of 17-year old Kian
community, and spiritual support.
Loyd delos Santos is carried by
hundreds of friends, relatives,
and sympathizers during his
funeral at La Loma Cemetery in
A comprehensive cost-benefits analysis of health-led versus To do an evidence-based assessment of the anti-drug Caloocan. Kian’s death sparked

Research
a nation-wide condemnation on
enforcement-led approaches needs to be conducted. Any campaign, the government should provide access to
the governments brutal ‘war’ on
such study must take into account direct and indirect information on its various aspects. For the most part, the
agenda for the costs based on statistics from all aspects of the anti-drug government has released only aggregate figures related to
drugs as it happened during a
bloody week of police operations

near future campaign. The following are some costs that should be
imputed in any accounting of the campaign:
drug-related killings, arrests, and operations. The current lack
of transparency translates to an absence of accountability,
and vigilante-style killings, from
August 15 to 18 in 2017, where
making it difficult to conduct an independent validation of the at least 81 people were killed
nationwide.
• Budget allocated and spent by government (direct costs) campaign’s effectiveness and its impacts.
• Families losing breadwinners
According to the police, Kian
• Trauma to children exposed to violence was a drug courier, and was
• Trauma to communities killed in a police operation after
• Burden to grandparents who take care of children supposedly drawing a gun.
• Growing distrust of the police This narrative however took an
• Humanitarian costs of thousands of widows and orphans unexpected twist after a CCTV
footage revealed that Kian was
• Cost to international trust and reputation of the country
seen being dragged by police in
plain clothes to a dark vacant lot
in Barangay 160, Caloocan City.
12 13
PHOTO BY RAFFY LERMA
 Who are being Thousands have been killed in the campaign against illegal
drugs. No complete list of casualties exists, so we do not have
killed, where, precise numbers. The casualty count since May 2016 could be
From news reports, the Ateneo Policy Center compiled a
list of 5,021 drug-related deaths between May 10, 2016 and
September 29, 2017. This is just a fraction of all the killings,

how, and why? as high as 20,000. The police say they have killed some 4,000
in “legitimate” police operations and that, there are, in addition,
but it tells us who are being killed, where, how, and why.

over 16,000 “homicides under investigation” that may be linked

to drugs.

Who are killed?

MOST WERE ONLY A 1,149 or 23% of the

LOW-LEVEL DRUG FEW WERE
SUSPECTS BIG TIME dead were on drug
watch lists compiled by
1% were so-called police and local officials
narco-politicians

1% were said to be police Most are young men

47% were alleged by officers involved in drugs
37 years old is
the police to be small-time
drug dealers
>1% were alleged to be the average age

8% were alleged to be
drug lords 94% 23 were below
are
drug users or addicts males 18 years old

34 were senior
1% were said to citizens
be drug couriers

14 15
 Where were they killed?

40% of the killings The rest were killed

were in Metro in the provinces.
Manila, mostly in Bulacan had among
the City of Manila Isabela, 86 the highest kill
Pangasinan, 133
and Quezon City. rates.

Caloocan, 373
Bulacan, 644

Rizal, 115
Metro Manila, 2000
Number of deaths
Laguna, 119
0
1
Quezon City, 400 2-4
5-6
7-8
9 - 13
Manila, 463 Cebu, 383 14 - 20
21 - 24
25 - 29
Number of deaths 30 - 33
0 - 25 34 - 40
26 - 36 41 - 52
37 - 43 53 - 86
44 - 79 87 - 113
80 - 156 114 - 133
Davao del Sur, 65
157 - 400 134 - 644
401 - 463 645 - 2000

16 17
 Many of the dead were killed at home or The majority of deadly police operations
their bodies were found on streets or alleys. are buy-busts.

2,753 killed in police operations

27% 24% 9%
were killed or found were killed or found were killed or found
dead on a street or dead inside or dead in a vehicle
alley around a private
residence BUY-BUST SERVING OF POLICE RAID
OPERATION WARRANT
Who were the killers?
58.3% 14.7% 6.0%

2,753 or 55% 1,907 or 38% 355 or 7%

were killed by were killed by mostly were found
policemen as part of unknown, often dead, often with
police operations masked or hooded, CHECKPOINT POLICE SWEEP
gunshot or stab OR SEARCH
assailants
wounds, and

Note: 6 of the 5,021 cases

in many cases,
with placards 3.6% 3.2%
cannot be categorized to any alleging they were
type of incident. drug pushers
left beside their
18 bodies. 19
 When were they killed?
On July 1, 2016,
the first day of the
Duterte presidency,
the police were
ordered to conduct
“immediate and
simultaneous” anti-
drug operations. 39
people were killed on
Day One alone
50
40
2 0 16 2 0 17
Note: 1 case is not included
September 21, 2016 The killings dipped July 30, 2017 Mayor
in the timeline, because
Drug-related killings: 49 on January 30, 2017, Reynaldo Parojinog
the exact date cannot be
when the President and 14 others were
verified.
halted police killed in a police
operations in the operation
September 15 -
wake of the discovery
October 13, 2016
of the killing of South
Senate hearings on
Korean businessman
extrajudicial killings Killings peaked again
Jee Ick Joo.
in mid-August 2017
when the police
launched multiple
March 6, 2017 operations in Metro
Launch of “Oplan Manila and Bulacan,
Double Barrel: and killed 101 people
Reloaded” over five days
Total cases in
Philippines: August 16, 2017
5,020 Kian delos Santos
was killed in a police
operation

Total cases
in NCR:

30
1,999

20

10

20 21
MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP
 2 0 16 2 0 17
800
738
All types:
700 690 5,020
669
Total killed
600
in police
Total killed
operation:
by assailant:
500 2,753 1,907
Total bodies
discovered/
found:
449
400 355
352
298
300 271
280 236

200 216
158
132 180
144
100
88 95
24

MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP

These findings are initial results from two research projects funded by the grants provided by
Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University. Before the end of this year, additional
research findings will be published on different aspects of this program, namely health and
community-based restorative approaches to drug rehabilitation, and a systematic analysis of
the anti-drug campaign implementation examined through a human rights perspective.

Further, in 2018, the Ateneo School of Government at Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle
Philippines, the University of the Philippines-Diliman, and the Stabile Center for Investigative
Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism formed The Drug Archive
Philippines.

Our goal: to gather and analyze data and documents related to the anti-drug campaign, and,
eventually, to launch more in-depth research and gain deeper insights into the campaign’s
scope and effectiveness.

22