The government's aggressive drug war since July 2016 resulted in the confiscation of a total of P89.29 billion worth of illegal drugs.

In its latest ‘#RealNumbers’ report, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) disclosed that. total of 11,843.41 kgs. of shabu valued at P76.55 billion were confiscated by law enforcement authorities during the said period.

The same report noted that 530.24 kgs of cocaine, 163,483 pieces of ecstasy and 10,482.21 kgs. of dried marijuana leaves were confiscated in the five-year period.

But PDEA did not disclose in the report the value of cocaine, ecstasy and dried marijuana leaves that were taken by authorities.

With the President’s all-out war against illegal drug order, authorities arrested 15,096 drug personalities that were considered as high value targets in the same time frame.

Of these numbers, 364 were foreign nationals, 402 were elected officials, 126 were uniformed personnel, 529 were government employees, 4,043 were target-listed, 797 were drug group leaders and members, 79 were armed group members, 1,670 were drug den maintainers, 295 were on the wanted list, 24 were celebrities and professional regulation license holders and 6,768 were arrested from high-impact operations.

The various anti-illegal drug operations in the country netted the dismantling of 1,156 drug dens and 19 clandestine laboratories while a total of 4,372 minors aged four to 17 involved in the unlawful drug trade were rescued by authorities.

Of the rescued minors, 1,004 were possessors, two were runners, 453 were users, one clandestine laboratory personnel, 18 were drug den employees, 10 were drug den maintainers, 246 were visitors of drug dens, three were cultivators and 2,635 were drug pushers.

The PDEA report also revealed that a total of 25,061 out of the 42,045 barangays in the country are now declared as drug-cleared with 10,410 barangays yet to be cleared and 6,574 barangays unaffected by illegal drugs. (Chito A. Chavez)