MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. proudly laid down the achievements of his administration in addressing the country’s drug problem made possible, he said, without indiscriminate killing.
“On the fight against dangerous drugs, adheres and will continue to adhere to the established eight Es of an effective anti-illegal drugs strategy,” he said in his third State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 22 at the Batasang Pambansa.
Taking a stride against the bloody drug war of the former administration, the President made a subtle jab, “Extermination was never one of them.”
According to the President, the more than 7000 anti-narcotics operations of his government resulted in the seizure of more than 44 billion worth of illegal drugs and the arrest of more than 97,000 drug personalities.
“More than 6000 of those arrested were high-value targets, 440 of them were government employees, of whom 42 were uniformed personnel, 77 were elected officials,” he said.
To paralyze drug operations, Marcos said dirty money and assets worth more than 500 million have been frozen and preserved with strong case build up now with a 79% drug conviction rate.
Drug affected barangays in the country have also been reduced to 32%, he said.
He also mentioned about the improvement of the crime situation in the country.
“We have noted an overall decrease in crime rate and an improvement in crime solution efficiency,” he said.
This however went against the statement of human rights group Amnesty International Philippines that gave the chief executive a “failing” grade for not prioritizing human rights in his first two years in office.
