Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (left), former president Rodrigo Duterte (MANILABULLETIN, Malacañang)

Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers has come out with his honest opinion on the bloody anti-illegal drug campaign of former president Rodrigo Duterte. 

“Ang kampanya laban sa droga nuong nakalipas na panahon ay parang 'pitik bulag' na naglikha ng maraming mga naulila na pamilya, na ang mga anak o kamag-anak na suspect sa droga ay di ipinasailalim sa batas at hustisya,” Barbers, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said on Wednesday, July 24. 

(The campaign against drugs in the past was like a leap in the dark that orphaned a lot of families, whose children or relatives involved with drugs were never subjected to the law or justice.) 

Barbers had this to say as he reflected on the achievements of incumbent President Marcos' "bloodless drug war", which the latter mentioned in his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA). 

After his historic majority vote victory in the 2022 elections, Marcos vowed to focus more on prevention and rehabilitation in his anti-drug campaign. 

In his SONA, Marcos reiterated that he “would adhere and continue to adhere to the established aegis of anti-illegal drug policy and that extermination was never one of them". 

Citing reports, Barbers said the official tally of drug personalities killed via extrajudicial killings (EJKs) as of March 2022 or near the end of president Duterte's term was 6,229.  But human rights groups have estimated the fatalities to be anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000. 

Barbers lauded the success of the current bloodless anti-drug campaign, wherein law enforcers have conducted 71,500 operations and seized P44 billion worth of illegal drugs. Out of the arrested 97,000 drug personalities, more than 6,000 of them high-value targets. 

Some 440 government employees--42 of them uniformed personnel and 77 elected officials--have also been caught for drug charges. 

The President also disclosed that the ongoing anti-drug campaign has resulted to the freezing of assets or suspected bigtime drug traffickers worth more than P500 million and with the conviction rate of 79 percent against those charged in court for illegal drugs. 

“On our part at the Lower House, our panel continues, and still continuing to amend Republic Act (RA) No.9165 or the Dangerous Drugs Act, to refine further and identify its flaws and loopholes, to effectively carry out the government’s anti-drug campaign, particularly against protectors, coddlers and financiers,” Barbers said. 

The Mindanaoan also urged concerned anti-drug authorities to focus more on supply reduction than demand reduction. 

In a report made by the United States (US) International Narcotics Control Strategy in 2010, the agency estimated that the illegal drug trade in the Philippines was worth $6.4 to $8.4 billion annually.