2016 Prelude According to policewoman
Royina Garma, in May 2016 President-elect
Rodrigo Duterte requested her to find a person who would help him implement the so-called "Davao model", a system used by Duterte to get rid of drug suspects in
Davao City during his time as mayor, in a nationwide scale. She was allegedly requested to look for a
Philippine National Police officer or an
Iglesia ni Cristo member. This led to her endorsing
Edilberto Leonardo for the task. This development of the war on drugs would only be publicized in the
House of Representatives inquiries of late 2024.
Early months In speeches made after his
inauguration on June 30 of 2016, Duterte urged citizens to kill suspected criminals and drug addicts. He said he would order police to adopt a
shoot-to-kill policy and would offer them a bounty for dead suspects. On July 2, the
Communist Party of the Philippines stated that it "reiterates its standing order for the
NPA to carry out operations to disarm and arrest the chieftains of the biggest drug syndicates, as well as other criminal syndicates involved in human rights violations and destruction of the environment" after its political wing
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan accepted Cabinet posts in the new government. On July 3, the
Philippine National Police announced that they had killed 30 alleged drug dealers since Duterte was sworn in as president on June 30. They later stated they had killed 103 suspects between May 10 and July 7. Later that day, the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front announced it was open to collaborate with police in the drug war. On August 3, Duterte said that the
Sinaloa cartel and the Chinese
triad are involved in the drug trade in the Philippines. On August 7, Duterte
named more than 150 drug suspects, including local politicians, police, judges, and military personnel. On August 8, the United States expressed concern over the extrajudicial killings. A presidential spokesperson said that Duterte welcomed a proposed congressional investigation into the extrajudicial killings to be chaired by Senator
Leila de Lima, his chief critic in the government. In a news conference on August 21, Duterte announced that he had in his possession
wiretaps and
ATM records that confirmed his allegations. He stated: "What is really crucial here is that because of her [romantic] relationship with her driver which I termed 'immoral' because the driver has a family and wife, that connection gave rise to the corruption of what was happening inside the national penitentiary." Dismissing fears for Dayan's safety, he added, "As the President, I got this information … as a privilege. But I am not required to prove it in court. That is somebody else's business. My job is to protect public interest. She's lying through her teeth." He explained that he had acquired the new evidence from an unnamed foreign country. On August 18,
United Nations human rights experts called on the Philippines to halt extrajudicial killings.
Agnes Callamard, the UN Special
Rapporteur on
summary executions, stated that Duterte had given a "license to kill" to his citizens by encouraging them to kill. In response, Duterte threatened to
withdraw from the UN and form a separate group with African nations and
China. Presidential spokesperson
Ernesto Abella later clarified that the Philippines was not leaving the UN. As the official death toll reached 1,800, a congressional investigation of the killings chaired by de Lima was opened. Then
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque stated that the government would be open to subjecting the Philippines to a probe through regular domestic channels, as long as they were competent and an unbiased rapporteur on the anti-drug campaign. On August 23,
Chito Gascon, head of the Philippine
Commission on Human Rights, told the Senate committee that the
International Criminal Court may have jurisdiction over the mass killings. On August 25, Duterte released a "drug matrix" that supposedly linked government officials, including de Lima, to the
New Bilibid Prison drug trafficking scandal. De Lima stated that the "drug matrix" was like something drawn by a 12-year-old child. She added, "I will not dignify any further this so-called 'drug matrix', which any ordinary lawyer knows too well properly belongs in the garbage can." On August 29, Duterte called on de Lima to resign and "hang herself". On August 25, urban poor organization
Kadamay held a rally to protest the drug-war killings, particularly the killing of 5-year-old Danica May Garcia.
State of emergency On September 3, 2016, following the
September 2 bombing in Davao City that killed 14 people in the city's central business district, Duterte declared a "state of lawlessness", and on the following day signed a declaration of a "
state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in
Mindanao". The
Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police were ordered to "suppress all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao" and to "prevent lawless violence from spreading and escalating elsewhere".
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said that the declaration "does not specify the imposition of curfews", and would remain in force indefinitely. He explained: "The recent incidents, the escape of terrorists from prisons, the beheadings, then eventually what happened in Davao. That was the basis." According to
Huffington Post, the state of emergency was seen by government critics as an attempt by Duterte to "enhance his already strong hold on power and give him carte blanche to impose further measures" in the drug war. planned to discuss the killings in the country At the 2016
ASEAN Summit, US President
Barack Obama cancelled scheduled meetings with Duterte to discuss extrajudicial killings after Duterte referred to Obama as a "son of a whore."
Senate committee On September 19, 2016, in a motion brought by senator and boxer
Manny Pacquiao, the Senate voted 16–4 to remove de Lima from her position as head of the Senate committee investigating the extrajudicial killings. Duterte's allies in the Senate argued that de Lima had damaged the country's reputation by allowing the testimony of
Edgar Matobato. She was replaced by Senator
Richard Gordon, then a supporter of Duterte. Matobato had testified that while working for the Davao Death Squad he had killed more than 50 people. He said that he witnessed Duterte killing a government agent and had heard Duterte giving orders to carry out executions and ordering the bombing of mosques in retaliation for an attack on a cathedral. Duterte told reporters that he wanted "a little extension of maybe another six months" for the drug war, as there were so many drug offenders and criminals that he "cannot kill them all". On the following day, a convicted bank robber and two former prison officials testified that they had paid bribes to de Lima, allegations which the senator denied. In a speech on September 20, Duterte promised to protect police in the drug war and urged them to kill drug suspects regardless of whether these latter would draw guns or not during the conduct of the police operations. At the beginning of October, a senior police officer told
The Guardian that 10 "special ops" official police death squads had been operating, each consisting of 15 police officers. The officer said that he had personally been involved in killing 87 suspects, and described how the corpses had their heads wrapped in masking tape with a cardboard placard labelling them as drug offenders so that the killing would not be investigated, and how they were dumped on roadsides (in Philippine English, as "
salvage" victims). The chairman of the Philippines' Commission on Human Rights,
Chito Gascon, was quoted in the report as saying: "I am not surprised, I have heard of this." The PNP declined to comment. The report stated: "although the
Guardian can verify the policeman's rank and his service history, there is no independent, official confirmation for the allegations of state complicity and police coordination in mass murder." On October 28,
Datu Saudi Ampatuan mayor Samsudin Dimaukom and nine others, including his five bodyguards, were killed during an anti-illegal drug operation in
Makilala,
Cotabato. According to police, the group were heavily armed and opened fire on police, who found sachets of methamphetamine at the scene. No police were injured. Dimaukom was among those named by Duterte on his "drug list" on August 7; the mayor had immediately surrendered after his implication and then returned to Datu Saudi Ampatuan after being let go. On November 1, it was reported that the
US State Department had halted the sale of 26,000
assault rifles to the PNP after opposition from the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee due to concerns about human rights violations. A PNP spokesman said they had not been informed.
PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa suggested China as a possible alternative supplier. On November 7, Duterte reacted to the US decision to halt the sale by announcing that he was "ordering its cancellation". In the early morning of November 5, Mayor of
Albuera,
Rolando Espinosa Sr., who had been detained at the Baybay City Sub-Provincial Jail for violation of the
Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, was killed in what was described as a
shootout inside his jail cell with personnel from the
Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). According to the CIDG, Espinosa opened fire on police agents who were executing a search warrant for "illegal firearms." A hard drive of CCTV footage that may have contained recorded data of the shooting of Espinosa went missing, a provincial official said. Espinosa had turned himself in to the PNP after being named by Duterte as one of the personalities in his drug list in August. He was briefly released but then re-arrested for alleged drug possession. The president of the National Union of People's Lawyers, Edre Olalia, told local broadcaster
TV5 that the police's version of events was "too contrived". He pointed out that a search warrant is not required to search a jail cell. "Such acts make a mockery of the law, taunt impunity and insult ordinary common sense," he said. Espinosa was the second public official to be killed in the drug war. On the same day, following the incident, Senator
Panfilo Lacson sought to resume the investigation of extrajudicial killings after it was suspended on October 3 by the
Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights. On November 28, Duterte appeared to threaten that human rights workers would be targeted: "The human rights [defenders] say I kill. If I say: 'Okay, I'll stop'. They [drug users] will multiply. When harvest time comes, there will be more of them who will die. Then I will include you among them because you let them multiply."
Amnesty International Philippines stated that Duterte was "inciting hate towards anyone who expresses dissent on his war against drugs." The National Alliance against Killings Philippines criticized Duterte's stated belief that human rights are a part of the illegal drug problem, saying his threats constitute "a declaration of an open season on human rights defenders". On December 5,
Reuters reported that of the drug suspects shot by police, 97% of them died, far more than in other countries with drug-related violence. The news agency also stated that PNP reports on these killings are "remarkably similar", almost always involving a
"buy-bust" operation in which the suspect panics and shoots at the officers, who return fire, killing the suspect, and then report finding a packet of white powder and a .38 caliber revolver, often with the serial number removed. "The figures pose a powerful challenge to the official narrative that the Philippines police are only killing drug suspects in self-defense. These statistics and other evidence amassed by Reuters point in the other direction: that police are pro-actively gunning down suspects." On December 8, the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights issued a report stating there was no sufficient evidence to prove the existence of a Davao Death Squad, and no proof of an imposed state-sponsored policy to commit killings "to eradicate illegal drugs in the country". Eleven senators signed the report, while senators
Leila de Lima,
JV Ejercito,
Antonio Trillanes and Senate Minority Leader
Ralph Recto did not sign the report or did not subscribe to its findings.
2016 New Bilibid Prison riot On the early morning of September 28, 2016, a riot erupted inside Building 14 of the
New Bilibid Prison. Initial reports from acting
Bureau of Corrections director Rolando Asuncion stated that one inmate witnessed three other convicts, namely Peter Co, Tony Co and Vicente Sy, using
methamphetamine moments before the riot started. The inmate alerted former police officer Clarence Dongail, who then entered the cell and told the three to stop. Upon returning to the common area to watch TV, Tony Co attacked Dongail, triggering the riot. Later, in a press conference, de Lima angrily condemned the incident and challenged Duterte to arrest her.
Temporary cessation of police drug operations Following criticism of the police over the
kidnapping and killing of Jee Ick-Joo, a
South Korean businessman, Duterte ordered the police to suspend drug-related operations while ordering the military and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to take over.
Human Rights Watch criticized the South Korean government in May 2018 for continuing to supply materials to the Philippine authorities after the death of Jee Ick-Joo.
2017 On January 4, 2017, a
Sputnik gang member by the name of Randy Lizardo shot and killed
Police Officer 1 Enrico Domingo in
Tondo. Domingo, together with other
PNP officers, were conducting a
buy-bust operation inside Lizardo's home. As the lawmen burst inside, the gang surprised them from out of the curtains with handguns. Domingo was hit in the head and died instantly, while another, Police Officer 2 Harley Gacera, was wounded in the shoulder. Lizardo and the gang managed to get away, but Lizardo was captured nine days later while attempting to flee the city. The death of Domingo became one of the most covered cases of a police casualty in the drug war. In March 2017, Duterte issued an executive order creating the
Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs (ICAD), composed of 21 government entities headed by the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), to lead the fight against the illegal drug trade.
Amnesty International investigation On January 31, 2017,
Amnesty International (AI) published a report of their investigation of 59 drug-related killings in 20 cities and towns, titled "'If you are poor you are killed': Extrajudicial Executions in the Philippines' 'War on Drugs'", which "details how the police have systematically targeted mostly poor and defenceless people across the country while planting 'evidence', recruiting paid killers, stealing from the people they kill and fabricating official incident reports." They stated: "Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the deliberate, widespread and systematic killings of alleged drug offenders, which appear to be planned and organized by the authorities, may constitute crimes against humanity under international law." The Palace said that the report was wrong, and that there were no such illegal killings, stating: "As for the spate of killings, there is no such thing as state-sponsored since the police has been following the strict protocols in arresting these drug-related criminals." Presidential spokesperson
Salvador Panelo said the killings were occurring because the “members of the drug syndicates are killing each other to prevent their competitors from informing the authorities which may lead to their arrest. As for those who were killed by the police, the same were made on the basis of self-defense when they employed unlawful means to resist arrest posing threat to the lives of the police officers." President Duterte also criticized the double-standard narrative on the killings in the anti-illegal drug campaign. Months after he sat in office, Duterte said, "When you bomb a village, you intend to kill the militants, but you kill in the process the children there. Why do you say it is collateral damage to the West and to us it is murder?" A police officer with the rank of Senior Police Officer 1, a ten-year veteran of a
Metro Manila anti-illegal drugs unit, told AI that police are paid 8,000 pesos (US$161) to 15,000 pesos (US$302) per "encounter" (the term used for extrajudicial executions disguised as legitimate operations); there is no payment for making arrests. He said that some police also receive a payment from the funeral home they send the corpses to. According to two hitmen interviewed by AI, hitmen hired by police are paid 5,000 pesos (US$100) for each drug user killed and 10,000 to 15,000 pesos (US$200–300) for each "drug pusher" killed. In an interview on February 4, Duterte told a reporter that Amnesty International was "so naive and so stupid", and "a creation of [George]
Soros". He asked, "Is that the only thing you [de Lima] can produce? The report of Amnesty?" De Lima was jailed on February 24, and awaited trial on charges related to allegations made by Duterte in August 2016. A court date was not set.
Arturo Lascañas On February 20, Arturo Lascañas, a retired police officer, told reporters at a press conference outside the
Philippine Senate building that as a leader of the Davao Death Squad he had carried out extrajudicial killings on the orders of Duterte. He said death squad members were paid 20,000 to 100,000 pesos ($400 to $2,000) per hit, depending on the importance of the target. He gave details of various killings he had carried out on Duterte's orders, including the previously unsolved murder of a radio show host critical of Duterte, and confessed to his involvement with Matobato in the bombing of a mosque on Duterte's orders. On the following day the senate voted in a private session to reopen the investigation, reportedly by a margin of ten votes to eight, with five abstentions. On March 6, Lascañas gave evidence at the Senate committee hearing, testifying that he had killed approximately 200 criminal suspects, media figures and political opponents on Duterte's orders.
Allegations about police using hospitals to hide killings In June 2017 Reuters reported that "Police were sending corpses to hospitals to destroy evidence at crime scenes and hide the fact that they were executing drug suspects." Doctors stated that corpses loaded onto trucks were being dumped at hospitals, sometimes after
rigor mortis had already set in, with clearly fatal wounds, the victims having been shot in the chest and head at close range. Reuters examined data from two Manila police districts and found that the proportion of suspects sent to hospitals, where they were pronounced
dead on arrival (DOA), increased from 13% in July 2016 to 85% in January 2017. "The totals grew along with international and domestic condemnation of Duterte's campaign," the report added. PNP Chief dela Rosa dismissed the Reuters report, saying police tried to save the victims’ lives even after encountering violent resistance. He added that police should not be disparaged for trying to save victims and that the removal of bodies from a crime scene did not mean that a proper investigation cannot be carried out.
Ozamiz raid, and death of Reynaldo Parojinog On July 30, Reynaldo Parojinog, the mayor of
Ozamiz, was killed along with 14 others, including his wife Susan, in a raid at around 2:30 am on his home in
barangay Baybay San Roque. According to police, they were serving a search warrant when Parojinog's bodyguards opened fire on them and the police officers responded by shooting back. According to police provincial chief Jaysen De Guzman, the authorities recovered grenades, ammunition and illegal drugs in the raid.
"One-time, big-time" operations On August 16, over 32 people were killed in multiple "one-time, big-time" antidrug operations in
Bulacan. In
Manila, 25 people, including 11 suspected robbers, were also killed in consecutive anti-criminality operations. The multiple deaths within that one day in the large-scale antidrug operations received condemnation from human rights groups and the majority of the Senate.
Reshuffling of the Caloocan City Police As a result of their involvement in the deaths of teenagers Kian delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman, and in robbing a drug suspect during an antidrug raid, then
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Oscar Albayalde ordered the firing and retraining of all the members of the Caloocan City Police, with the exception of its newly appointed chief and deputy.
Transfer of anti-drug operations to PDEA On October 12, 2017, Duterte announced the transfer of anti-drug operations to the PDEA, ending the involvement of the PNP. The announcement followed the publication of an opinion poll on October 8, which showed a drop in the president's approval rating from 66% to 48%. In a televised speech, Duterte scoffed and mocked the "bleeding hearts" who sympathized with those killed in the drug war, pointedly at the European Union, whom he accused of interfering with Philippine sovereignty.
Rodrigo Duterte's refutation to ASEAN representatives In a speech before
ASEAN representatives, Duterte refuted all extrajudicial killings related to the Philippine war on drugs by stating that these stories only served a political agenda to demonize him. He stated that he only used his mouth to tell drug users they will be killed. He stated that "shabu" (crystal meth) users have shrunken brains, which is why they become violent and aggressive, "leading to their deaths." Duterte added that all drug pushers and their henchmen always carry their guns with them and that killing them is justifiable as to not endanger the lives of policemen.
2018 In a speech on March 26, 2018, Duterte stated that human rights groups "have become unwitting tools of drug lords." Human Rights Watch rejected the claim, calling it "shockingly dangerous and shameful." In October 2018, Duterte signed an executive order institutionalizing the
Philippine Anti-Illegal Drugs Strategy, which prescribes a more balanced government approach in the fight against illegal drugs by directing all government departments and agencies,
government-owned and controlled corporations, and
state universities and colleges to craft their own plans relative to the strategy.
Consecutive assassinations of local government officials The controversial
Tanauan, Batangas mayor
Antonio Halili was assassinated by an unknown sniper during a flag-raising ceremony on July 2, 2018, becoming the 11th local government official to be killed in the drug war. On the following day, Ferdinand Bote, mayor of
General Tinio, was shot dead in his vehicle in
Cabanatuan.
Supreme Court issuance of writs of amparo After holding deliberations on petitions by the
Free Legal Assistance Group and the Center for International Law, the Philippine
Supreme Court in December 2017 ordered the
solicitor-general to release documents related to the drug war. In January 2018, the Supreme Court granted the petitioners a
writ of amparo and issued restraining orders against police officers. The spokesperson for the President said the administration would comply with the order. The Supreme Court issued a second writ of amparo in February 2018, prohibiting the then Interior Secretary,
Ismael Sueno, and police chief dela Rosa from going within one kilometer from the widow of a drug war victim killed in
Antipolo, Rizal.
2019 A survey conducted by
SWS from December 16–19, 2018, showed that 66% of Filipinos believe that drug addicts in the country have diminished substantially. However, on March 1, 2019, results were released of an SWS survey also conducted from December 16 to 19, 2018, also on 1,440 adults nationwide, which concluded that 78% (or almost 4 out of 5 Filipinos) were worried "that they, or someone they know, will be a victim of extrajudicial killings (EJK)." Police General
Oscar Albayalde, the new
Philippine National Police chief, criticized the survey results, pointing out that the survey wrongly presented a question that "cannot be validated by respondents without keen awareness or understanding of EJK as we know it from Administrative Order No. 35 Series of 2012 by President Benigno Aquino III|[Benigno Simeon] Aquino [III]." He reiterated that "I take the latest survey results on public perception to alleged extrajudicial killing with a full cup of salt. It shouldn't be surprising that 78 percent are afraid of getting killed. Who isn't afraid to die, anyway?" On March 14, Duterte released another list of politicians allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade. The list consisted of 45 incumbent officials: 33 mayors, eight vice mayors, three Congress representatives, one provincial board member, and one former mayor. Of all the politicians named, eight belonged to Duterte's own
PDP–Laban political party. Opposition figures, such as
senatorial candidates from
Otso Diretso, said Duterte was using the list "to ensure their allies would win" in the
May 2019 election. On March 17, the country formally withdrew from the ICC after the country's withdrawal notification was received by the
Secretary-General of the United Nations the previous year. The Republic of the Philippines announced its withdrawal from the Court on March 17, 2019. On July 18, 2023, the Appeals Chamber of the ICC confirmed the
Office of the Prosecutor's recommencement of its investigation of the extrajudicial killings in the Philippine "war on drugs". Amid questions relating to jurisdiction following the Philippines' withdrawal from the ICC, the Philippine Supreme Court stated in a 2021 ruling that the country still has an obligation to cooperate in the ICC proceedings. In September 2019, Philippine authorities accused Guia Gomez-Castro, former chair of Barangay 484 in
Sampaloc, Manila, as a mastermind in the "recycling" of illegal drugs law enforcers have seized. Dubbed by the authorities as a "drug queen", the PDEA added that the corrupt police officers involved had been selling Gomez-Castro's "recycled"
shabu, worth ₱16.6 million, as Gomez-Castro's cohorts and that Gomez-Castro had the protection of the police officers and other politicians. On September 25, the
Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced that Gomez-Castro had left the country on September 21. On the same day, Manila Mayor
Isko Moreno, through
Facebook live streaming, urged Gomez-Castro to surrender. In November 2018, seven people were arrested by Tondo police during a drug operation; some of them were the chairwoman's relatives. was shot dead by four masked men while being transported to the prosecutor's office in
Cebu City following his alleged beating of a massage therapist. Prior to his death,
Cebu City police said that, according to Navarro's family, the mayor had been receiving death threats in Misamis Occidental. The Philippines was deemed the 4th most dangerous country in the world in terms of civilian-targeted violence by a mid-2019 report by the
Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled). The report declared that 75% of the reported deaths in the country were from the war on drugs pursued by the Philippines' authorities.
Ninja cops controversy In October 2019, PNP Chief Albayalde became the center of a controversy when he was accused of protecting so-called "ninja cops" or corrupt police officials. The "ninja cops" moniker refers to police officers who had been accused of "recycling" the illegal drugs they seized during their raids and sting operations. On November 29, 2013, twelve police officers, led by Major Rodney Baloyo, conducted a raid in
Mexico, Pampanga, and seized a
methamphetamine (
shabu) load. Albayalde was the acting police chief of Pampanga at the time of the raid. The next day, on November 30, the authorities submitted the illegal drugs that they recovered as evidence. he was also alleged to have benefited from the selling of the seized contraband. Albayalde denied the accusations. The
Makabayan bloc demanded the immediate resignation of Albayalde from his post and other officials from theirs. On October 14, Albayalde eventually resigned as the PNP chief, and Duterte expressed his disappointment over the issue. while the Senate suggested life imprisonment for the police officers. The PNP said in a statement that all the accused should "remain innocent until proven guilty."
Robredo's appointment as ICAD co-chairperson On October 23, 2019, Vice President
Leni Robredo made a statement, saying Duterte should allow the United Nations to investigate the war on drugs, adding that the campaign had been "a failure and a dent on the country's international image." Presidential spokesman
Salvador Panelo slammed Robredo's remark, saying her claim "lacked factual basis." However, on October 27, Robredo clarified that she was only suggesting "tweaks" to the campaign and denied she was calling for a stop to the war on drugs. The
Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) said that the vice president was “misled in understanding the anti-drug campaign,” adding that law enforcement is only a part of a multi-faceted dimension in addressing domestic drug issues that uses a holistic, balanced, and comprehensive approach. “While enforcement issues are more evident, we cannot discount the successes we have gained in the demand reduction part of the campaign," the DDB said. Presidential spokesperson Panelo, meanwhile, tagged Robredo's comments as “black propaganda”, as they lacked factual basis and advised the Vice President to detach herself from detractors. Panelo said that while the government is not intolerant of criticisms, Robrado's comments “become a disinformation campaign and an abuse of the freedom of speech and expression, and unproductive to the mature evolution of a democratic society, a hindrance to its progress. On November 12, 2019, former Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division Phelim Kline made a statement addressed to Robredo, stating his recommendation of arresting Duterte "and his henchmen for inciting and instigating mass murder." On November 4, 2019, Panelo announced that Duterte had assigned Robredo to be a co-chairperson of the
Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD), effective until the end of his term in 2022. However, on November 24, after Robredo made a number of suggestions, Duterte fired the Vice President from the post. According to Panelo, her removal was "in response to the taunt and dare" of the Vice President for Duterte "to just tell her that he wants her out."
2020 In January 2020, vice president
Leni Robredo reported her findings and recommendations on the drug war. Using data from the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Robredo said, "In spite of all the Filipinos who were killed and all the money spent by the government, we only seized less than 1 percent in supply of shabu and money involved in illegal drugs." In December 2020,
Rappler reported that "International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda said there is 'reasonable basis' to believe that crimes against humanity were committed in the killings related to President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs." In June of the same year, a shooting in
Parañaque left one policeman and one criminal dead, and one policeman wounded. Police Lt. Armand Melad and his group were sent to Unida and Dimasalang streets, Barangay
Baclaran, to answer a complaint about loud noises from a
karaoke machine. They then came across two males on a motorcycle without helmets. As they questioned the two men, an argument erupted, which led to the policemen to try to arrest the two. One of them, by the name of Moamar Sarif, stepped down from the motorcycle, drew a
.40 Jericho Pistol, and opened fire. The police then grabbed their own guns, while the person on the motorcycle drove away. During the shootout, both Melad and Sarif were critically wounded, later dying in the same hospital. Police Corporal Allan Baltazar was also wounded. August 2020 was the sight of a bloody series of killings in the province of
Leyte, in which many drug dealers and users were killed. Jason Golong, a former drug pusher and user, was killed outside of the Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Hospital on Calanipawan Road, shot upon while driving his car. He was the son of former
Tacloban City prosecutor Ruperto Golong and was once captured in a buy-bust operation conducted by the PDEA in 2018. Meanwhile, retired police officer and drug user Pio Molabola Peñaflor was killed in a
drive-by shooting together with his son Alphy Chan Peñaflor in
Palo, Leyte. In the next month, four more people were killed—namely Constantino Torre, Dennis Monteza, Ian Pat Cabredo and Maritess Pami—two of whom were former police officers. Cabredo was a former guard at the Leyte Provincial Jail and was in the police's drug suspect list before his death. On November 24, Police Captain Ariel Ilagan of the
Southern Police District was driving a
Toyota Fortuner in
Imus, with his family inside the car, when armed assailants on foot ambushed them, firing at the SUV with
M16 rifles. The attackers then fled on board a red
Toyota Innova that had no registration plate. The shooting was captured on CCTV. Ilagan was killed, while his wife and daughter sustained injuries. Ilagan previously headed the Taguig City Police's Drug Enforcement Unit and had recently been transferred to the Discipline Law and Order Section (DLOS), which handles “administrative and less grave cases” of policemen. The shootout started when a joint task force of police and
Marines personnel attempted to serve a search warrant to Pendatun Adsis Talusan, a former village chief who was convicted of robbery with homicide, double frustrated murder, and illegal possession of firearms. Members of Talusan's group then holed themselves up inside an apartment where the police besieged them. During the end of the firefight, 12 syndicate members including Talusan were killed, as well as one policeman. The shootout happened only a few days after the assassination of Christopher Cuan, mayor of
Libungan and a politician included in Duterte's "drug list". Findings from the investigation would be forwarded to Human Rights Watch, and HRW in turn urged the DOJ to keep its promise "regarding the alleged failures of the police force in its anti-drug operations." In the same month,
Leila de Lima, one of Duterte's long-time critics, was acquitted of one of the three drug charges filed against her. In the evening of the same day, a fatal
friendly fire incident happened
between PNP personnel and PDEA agents near a mall in
Quezon City. Both organizations were conducting separate drug operations that intertwined in the area near the Ever Gotesco Mall. A botched buy-bust operation then led to a shootout between the two groups that caused the deaths of two policemen, two PDEA agents, and one PDEA informant. Although the shootout happened near a crowded area, mall management managed to secure the civilians in the mall. During the preliminary investigation, the PNP claimed that the PDEA agents fired first. The PNP and the PDEA decided to have a joint investigation on the matter, while Police General
Debold Sinas appointed the
CIDG as the lead investigating body. The Department of Justice also ordered the
National Bureau of Investigation to create a parallel investigation on the matter. In June, the International Criminal Court
Office of the Prosecutor applied for authorization to open an investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity committed in President Rodrigo Duterte's violent campaign against illegal drugs. It also sought to probe killings committed in Davao City from 2011 to 2016. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, whose term was to end a week after the investigation announcement, said a preliminary probe that began in February 2018 determined "that there is a reasonable basis to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder [have been] committed" in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte's presidential election win in 2016.
Malacañang, through presidential spokesperson
Harry Roque, responded to the claims by calling it "legally erroneous." The Philippines cut its ties with the International Criminal Court in 2018 when the Philippine Supreme Court junked petitions that challenged the country's plan to withdraw from the international tribunal. The decision to withdraw was a reaction to the ICC's 2018 preliminary inquiry into accusations that Duterte and other Philippine officials had committed mass murder and crimes against humanity in the course of the drug crackdown.
2022 seized from a
March 2022 drug seizure in Infanta, Quezon. On January 4, 2022, in his first national address of the year, President Duterte said that he would not apologize for the deaths caused by the war on drugs by his administration. The
2022 Philippine general election took place on May 9. Duterte was limited to only a single six-year term as president and thus was ineligible to participate.
Bongbong Marcos was elected as Duterte's successor, with the latter stepping down from his position on June 30. Duterte said he would still pursue his war on drugs even as a civilian after the end of his presidency. The war on drugs was a major legacy of Duterte's presidency, being a major crackdown on illegal drugs as part of his
presidential campaign back in the
2016 elections. By March 31, 2022, 1,130 drug dens and clandestine laboratories had been dismantled, 24,766 of the 42,045 barangays had been cleared of illegal drug influence, 14,888 "high-value targets" were arrested (including 527 government employees), worth of
methamnetamine were seized, and 4,307 minors (aged 4–17) had been "rescued" from the illegal drug trade. 6,241 people were killed in the 233,356 anti-illegal drug operations conducted from July 1, 2016, to March 31, 2022.
War on drugs under Marcos In mid-2022, then-outgoing President Duterte advised then President-elect Bongbong Marcos to continue the former's campaign against illegal drugs, even if its continuation under Marcos would mean modifications. Marcos considered giving Duterte the role of anti-drug czar under his administration, but the latter expressed disinterest. Among the first decisions of Marcos relating to his predecessor's campaign was establishing a stance that the Philippines would not be rejoining the International Criminal Court. Under former President Duterte, the country's membership was withdrawn from the international court in 2019 after Duterte was accused of committing crimes against humanity in relation to his campaign against illegal drugs. Marcos announced a policy shift on the Philippines' campaign against illegal drugs. He said "drug abuse prevention and education and the improvement of rehabilitation centers will be the focus" of his own campaign.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary
Benjamin Abalos Jr. said that the approach of the government under his watch would be to build "airtight cases" against "big-time" drug traffickers to minimize dismissed cases. Marcos appointed his first PNP chief on August 1, 2022. The appointee,
Rodolfo Azurin Jr., also believed that the war on drugs should be "relentlessly" continued but must be refined to include rehabilitation. He insisted that "killing is not the solution in drug war" and that drug lords should be arrested while communities affected by the illegal drug trade should be developed instead. In late 2022, Human Rights Watch disputed the claim that a policy shift occurred under Marcos, citing that the PNP was undercounting war on drugs-related deaths instead of relying on data from the Dahas program of the
University of the Philippines' Third World Studies Center which tallied 127 deaths from drug war incidents from July 1 to November 7. HRW disagreed with the assessment of the PNP that there were minimal deaths, even if they were to accept the police's death tally of only 46 people.
Justice secretary Crispin Remulla was critical of HRW's statements, viewing it as not objective and saying it was influenced by
non-government organizations sympathetic to the
Communist Party of the Philippines. He insisted that extrajudicial killing is not state policy and that classifying a death arising from an anti-illegal drug operation as extrajudicial killing is wrong and misleading. On November 28, the DILG launched its Buhay Ay Ingatan, Droga'y Ayawan (BIDA; ) program separate from the campaign of law enforcement agencies. In coordination with local governments, the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the
Department of Health, the DILG's program is focused on illegal drugs demand reduction and rehabilitation. In December, Dela Rosa called for action believing there was a resurgence of drug syndicates that had come "back with a vengeance", citing two separate buy-bust operations that led to the arrest of police and PDEA agents. Dela Rosa concluded that syndicates had been emboldened to operate anew due to the departure of Duterte. In response, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos pointed out that worth of illegal drugs had been seized since the start of the Marcos administration. On March 11, 2025, former president Duterte was
arrested and sent to The Hague on charges related to crimes against humanity during his "war on drugs", which allegedly resulted in thousands of deaths.
Conviction of Caloocan policemen On June 18, 2024,
Caloocan Regional Trial Court, Branch 121 Presiding Judge Maria Rowena Violago Alejandria
sentenced Police Master Sergeant Virgilio Cervantes and police corporals Arnel de Guzman, Johnston Alacre, and Artemio Saguros for the
homicide of father and son Luis and Gabriel Bonifacio during a 2016 anti-drug operation. This marked the fourth conviction of police personnel related to Duterte's drug war, the first being the conviction around the 2018
murders of Kian delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman.
Quad Committee of the House of Representatives hearings In August 2024, the Philippine House of Representatives set up a panel to investigate possible links between
Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), extrajudicial killings, illegal drugs, and Chinese syndicates. The panel comprised the House's
dangerous drugs committee,
human rights committee,
public accounts committee, and
public order and safety committee. The Quad Committee held its first meeting on August 12, and held its first hearing on August 16.
Espenido's accusations against Senators Dela Rosa and Go Also in August 2024,
Jovie Espenido, a controversial police officer involved in Duterte's war on drugs, testified before the
House Committee on Public Order and Safety and accused Senator
Ronald dela Rosa of causing the dismissal of cases against drug lords Kerwin Espinosa and Mayor
Reynaldo Parojinog. Espenido also accused senator
Bong Go of sourcing intelligence funds from POGOs to fund the alleged "reward system" of Duterte's drug war. Both Dela Rosa and Go vehemently denied Espenido's claims.
PNP under Nicolas Torre In June 2025, police general
Nicolas Torre was installed as the new chief of the PNP, succeeding
Rommel Marbil. A week after his appointment, Torre became the first PNP chief to make a courtesy visit to the
Commission on Human Rights, where he stated that "The CHR is our boss on the protection of human rights." ==Operations==