The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) reported that around P10.41 billion worth of illegal drugs were confiscated, and more than 27,000 barangays were cleared of narcotics under President Marcos' drug war in 2023.

Citing a report by the Philippine National Police (PNP), the PCO said that aside from confiscating large volumes of illegal drugs, the authorities arrested 56,495 suspects in over 44,000 anti-illegal drug operations.

In a separate report, the government also cleared 27,968 barangays of illegal drugs, with 23 provinces, 447 municipalities, and 43 cities establishing their respective community-based drug rehabilitation programs (CBDRPs) as of Dec. 27, 2023.

It added that 50 provinces, 1,160 municipalities, and 30 cities have functional Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (ADACs) implementing anti-drug priorities at the local level.

Moreover, 74 established in-patient treatment and rehabilitation facilities were also put up.

These were achieved through the consolidated efforts of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and the PNP.

"The recent government successes [were] under President Marcos's new approach to address illegal drugs by focusing on rehabilitation, reintegration, and preventive education programs specifically for the youth," the PCO said.

More efforts

According to the PCO, the DILG, in partnership with other national government agencies (NGAs), local government units (LGUs), the private sector, and faith-based and civil society organizations, launched the Buhay Ingatan, Droga'y Iwasan (BIDA) Program in November 2022.

The DDB, on the other hand, continues to implement the Barangay Drug Clearing Program (BDCP) to attain 100 percent drug-free/drug-cleared barangays by 2028.

To reduce the supply of illegal drugs, the PDEA intensified its efforts against top-level drug personalities, not only by arresting them but also by strengthening financial investigations to immobilize their assets.

Regarding demand reduction, the PDEA trained and capacitated LGUs and stakeholders in the anti-illegal drug advocacy and rehabilitation campaign programs.

"Moving forward, the administration targets by June 2028 to reduce the target-listed drug personalities by 10 percent of the annual target list and establish CBDRPs and ADACs in all provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays," the PCO said.

It added that the administration wants to attain a 1:1 ratio of established treatment and rehabilitation facilities per province by 2028.