President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (PPA/ KJ Rosales)

The Marcos administration’s “bloodless” anti-illegal drug campaign is a “resounding success” in the ongoing fight against the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country, according to two ranking members of the House of Representatives.

During a recent press conference, House Committee on Dangerous Drugs chairperson and Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers and Deputy Speaker and Quezon 2nd district David “Jayjay” Suarez recognized President Marcos’ more humane approach to combating illegal drugs.

“Para sa 'kin kasi, ang (For me, the) parameters to measure the success of this anti-illegal drug program ay yung (is) taking away the illegal or illicit drugs from the streets. Pag ka ikaw ay nakakuha ng tone-toneladang droga (When you get tons of drugs) outside of the reach of the dependents, the youth and others, eh hindi ba successful iyon? (isn't that successful?)” stressed Barbers.

As reported by President Marcos in his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), the government has seized approximately P44 billion worth of illegal drugs since he took office in 2022. 

He said more than 97,000 drug suspects have been arrested, 6,000 of whom were high-value targets. The figure also included 440 government employees, 42 uniformed personnel, and 77 elected officials.

Marcos’ approach was seen as a complete contrast to former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody anti-drug campaign, which claimed the lives of thousands of Filipinos.

Due to allegations of human rights violations, Duterte’s campaign is now under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for charges of crimes against humanity.

“What is important is that it was really never a policy of this administration to exterminate and yet because of that policy we have produced quite a large achievement as far as taking out drugs from the streets,” noted Barbers.

“P44 billion worth ng droga ang tinanggal sa kalsada sa loob lamang ng dalawang taon. So napakalaking achievement iyan,” he added.

(P44 billion worth of drugs were taken off the streets in just two years. So that's a huge achievement.)

Suarez agreed and cited the current success of law enforcement against illegal drug syndicates.

“I think that would emphasize why we need more police in the street, to specifically combat the proliferation of illegal drugs and I truly applaud the efforts being conducted by the present administration in combating drugs within the bounds of law,” he said.

“Nakita naman natin sa kanyang SONA (We saw it in his SONA), indeed challenging but he’s confronting it, he is addressing it and he’s addressing it legally,” he continued.