The war on drugs will continue and be “relentless and chilling,” President Rodrigo Duterte declared Monday during his third State of the Nation Address, as he swept aside concerns over human rights.
“If you think that I can be dissuaded from continuing this fight because of demonstrations… then you got it all wrong,” Duterte said, addressing critics of his bloody campaign.
“Your concern is human rights, mine is human lives.”
Duterte, who rose to power on the promise to end the illegal drug trade, said his commitment has not wavered, but has grown stronger.
“The war against illegal drugs is far from over. Where before, the war resulted in the seizure of illegal drugs worth millions of pesos, today, they run [into] billions in peso value,” Duterte said. “I can only shudder at the harm that those drugs could have caused had they reached the streets of every province, city, municipality, barangay, and community throughout the country.”
He said illegal drugs damage people and communities, waste away lives, and ruin families and relationships.
“These drug dealers know fully well that their business is against the law. They know the consequences of their criminal acts, especially when caught in flagrante delicto and they violently resist arrest,” he said.
Data from the Philippine National Police from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018 showed that the number of deaths in Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs stood at 4,450 deaths.
These were all drug suspects who were supposedly shot dead when they fought back against the police.
PNP statistics also list 149,265 people arrested, and 1.2 million who surrendered.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s #RealNumbersPH tallying initiative updated last June 30 reported a death toll of 4,354. Some P14.66 billion worth of methamphetamine or shabu have been seized in operations, weighing a total of 2,736 kilograms, the agency said.
The President said when the anti-drug campaign draws blood from criminals, human rights advocates and Church leaders protest. But he was more concerned with other rights of most Filipinos.
Ver Noveno, Manny Palmero, AFP
“Human rights to me means giving Filipinos, especially those at the society’s fringes, a decent and dignified future through the social and physical infrastructures necessary to better their lives,” Duterte said. “The lives and freedoms and the hard-earned property of every Filipino whose condition we wish to improve shall be protected from criminals, terrorists, corrupt officials, and traffickers.”
“You worry about the present, I am concerned most about both the present and the future,” Duterte said, saying he was fully aware of what drugs can do to the youth.
“If not stopped, crimes can make human cesspools of succeeding generations. I will not allow it to happen. Not during my term,” he said.
Duterte’s third Sona was his shortest, lasting almost 48 minutes, with no adlib digressions or profanity.
The President’s vow to continue the war on drugs comes after a recent opinion poll showed most Filipinos—69 percent—recognized the efforts of his administration to eradicate illegal drugs as its “most important achievement.”
In a Pulse Asia survey conducted from June 15-21, 50 percent of respondents also recognized fighting criminality as an achievement.
Other accomplishments that were recognized was the salary increase for police and military personnel (30 percent) and the fight against graft and corruption (28 percent).
Effort to create more jobs was recognized by only 15 percent of the respondents, and restoring public trust in government and its officials was noted by 11 percent.
The Pulse Asia survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews with 1,800 registered voters aged 18 and above. It has a ±2 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.
