Essay On Drug Violence In The Philippines

Since Pres. Rodrigo Duterte took office in June 2016, the number of murders in the Philippines has notably increased as his shoot-to-kill order against “resistant” drug suspects has been faithfully obeyed by the police. As of July 2017, the president’s brutal war on drugs has claimed more than 7,000 lives, according to the Human Rights Watch.

Rappler reported that Grade 12 student Kian Loyd delos Santos, who was killed during one-time big-time police operations in Caloocan City, is among at least 31 minors killed by either police or vigilantes since the drug war was launched. To make matters worse, an infant, the youngest reported drug war victim, was implicated and killed in an anti-narcotics raid in Maguindanao.

The ongoing state-sponsored

It is mostly poor drug suspects who are arrested and wrongfully killed, while the rich and the powerful are accorded due process.

These contrasting situations can be exemplified by how Kian was killed despite only being suspected as a drug courier, while the presidential son Paolo Duterte and businessman Kenneth Dong, whose names were linked to the 6.4-billion peso shabu shipment from China, were given due process.

The bloody drug war is undoubtedly inhumane, as drug offenders are being shot to death like wild animals. PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa even justified the killings of drug offenders, saying he would rather see his policemen alive than being killed by suspects. His argument makes it seem that the police are so desperately helpless during drug raids that their only solution is to kill people, including minors.

Now that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has taken the lead in the drug war, one can only hope that the bloodshed will finally come to a complete stop and that every citizen accused of drug-related offenses will finally be given due process. So far, it seems that the PDEA is successful in lessening, if not completely eradicating, the killings of