A total of 6,221 illegal drugs personalities were killed while 13,996 drug suspects were arrested since President Duterte launched an intensified campaign against illegal drugs.
In its July 1, 2016 to Nov. 30, 2021 “Real Numbers’’ data, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) noted that in totality 319,929 suspects were arrested in 221,657 operations conducted by the anti-narcotics authorities.
The numbers include 6,158 high value targets (HVTs) arrested from high impact operations, 3,830 target-listed suspects, 1,449 drug den maintainers, 796 drug group leaders/members, 511 government employees, 394 elected officials, 349 foreigners, 284 included on wanted lists, 126 uniformed personnel, 75 armed group members and 24 prominent personalities.
As of November this year, the consolidated report showed that authorities nabbed 4,086 minors, broken down to 2,421 pushers; 967 possessors; 438 users; 229 visitors of drug den; nine drug den maintainers; 17 drug den employees, two cultivators, one clan lab employee, and two runners.
After the court hearings, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) noted that the minors will be housed at the Bahay Pag-asa centers of the local government units (LGUs) within eight hours of police custody before being shipped to them.
The DSWD also clarified that the minors will not be put behind bars together with the hardened criminals.
In the said anti-illegal drug raids, a total of 982 drug dens were dismantled with 18 clandestine shabu laboratories during the same period as P74.30 billion of various illegal drugs which included P62.35 billion worth of shabu were confiscated.
More or less 23,686 out of the 42,045 barangays (villages) have been declared drug-cleared as of August 31 while 11,730 still uncleared from illegal drugs.
The barangays have attained drug-cleared status after the Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug-Clearing Program issues its certification.
Meanwhile, PDEA assured that safety nets are in place with the health of its agents being prime priorities in the conduct of the agency’s anti-drug operations. (Chito A. Chavez)