PDEA: Drug-related killings down 95%

MANILA, Philippines — The number of deaths recorded in anti-narcotics operations has decreased by 95 percent during the administration of President Marcos, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported yesterday.

PDEA spokesman Joseph Frederick Calulut attributed the drop in drug-related killings to the use of body cameras during operations, ensuring transparency and preventing human rights violations.

Calulut also clarified that authorities do not subject all arrested suspects to mandatory drug tests unless the crime committed is directly linked to illegal drugs.

Under Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, only suspects arrested for drug-related offenses can be subjected to drug testing.

Calulut said that people apprehended in anti-narcotics operations undergo due process while drug dependents are referred to rehabilitation centers.

Contrary to the figures released by the PDEA, however, the University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center’s “Dahas Project” recorded a 10 percent increase in drug-related killings in 2024.

For the first time since monitoring began in 2021, more killings were attributed to unidentified assailants (39.01 percent) than to state agents (30.77 percent), which include police and PDEA personnel.

Among the victims, 34.34 percent had prior drug records while 32.97 percent were identified as pushers.

The percentage of drug users killed went up to 16.21 percent – a sharp increase from the previous years, when users never exceeded seven percent of total deaths.