At least 5,722 drug suspects were killed and P34.18-billion worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) was seized under President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) showed.
The PDEA said 168,525 anti-illegal drug operations were conducted from July 1, 2016, to May 31, 2020, netting 245,135 arrests, including that of 9,350 high-value targets.
Among those arrested were 320 elected officials and 90 uniformed personnel.
The agency also said that the 3,160 rescued children, age 4 to 17, were either drug pushers or had drugs on them. But human rights group Karapatan expressed doubts on the PDEA’s figures and called for “an international, independent investigation mechanism” to look into the drug war-related deaths, which Karapatan official Cristina Palabay described as “staggering, disturbing and condemnable.” —With a report from Patricia Denise M. Chiu