Nothing to celebrate with Marcos Jr.’s drug war campaign

From paramihan ng patay to paramihan ng aresto? There’s nothing to celebrate about the latter policy that does not solve the root causes of the illegal drugs problem and even aggravates it by opening the gates to further rights violations against the people, especially the poor.

Thus, after the orders of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and statements made by newly installed Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Nicolas Torre III on the government’s campaign against illegal drugs.

Instead of addressing the root causes of the illegal drug trade in the country, the Marcos administration continues the Duterte regime’s policies and practice of fomenting fear among the general populace and ensuring impunity for state-sanctioned vigilante groups and police operatives who kill drug suspects.

Marcos’ directive of continuing the anti-drug campaign through drug seizures, case filings versus drug dealers and drug lords and going after small-time drug dealers amounts to the same drug war policy of Duterte.

While the newly installed PNP chief paid lip service to recognizing the rights of arrested people, their planned drug war campaign is a declaration of another open season to arbitrarily arrest persons on mere suspicion of involvement in the illegal drug trade. Wasn’t this the same thing that happened in Duterte’s drug war? Under Duterte, it didn’t matter to the police who they were killing. What was important to them was to fulfill their kill quotas. So really, what’s the difference?

Marcos Jr.’s anti-drug war campaign is not as bloodless as claimed. According to the Dahas Project of the University of the Philippines-based Third World Studies Center, there have already been 989 drug-related killings in the country as of May 2025. 

We continue to demand that the illegal drug trade problem in the country be addressed as a socio-economic and health issue. It is not enough to celebrate the fact that the former president is in detention for having ordered a bloodbath and ignoring the real roots of the drug problem. With the Marcos Jr. administration’s anti-drug policy just a rehash of the previous one, we should be mindful of the horrors of Duterte’s drug war, and demand that the attendant rights violations are not repeated under the current regime.