Drug war stats: 192 killed, 8,110 arrested in 9 weeks

MANILA, Philippines - The war on drugs in the last nine weeks – or even before Rodrigo Duterte took his oath as president a fortnight ago on June 30 – has yielded ever bigger numbers of casualties, arrests and “surrenderees,” and a volume of cases filed in court.

This is according to the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) that has been monitoring the conduct of anti-drug operations from May 10 – or the day after the last elections.

A copy of DIDM’s report to PNP Director General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa that PCIJ obtained showed that from May 10 to July 10, police operations against illegal drugs have yielded the following results:

• 192 persons killed;

• 8,110 persons arrested;

• 3,001 cases “referred”; and

• 3,477 cases “filed in court.”

The report also said that from May 10 to July 11, a total of 35,276 persons have “surrendered” to the authorities.

The DIDM report is a separate dataset from that produced by the PNP National Operations Center (NOC) on its “Monitoring of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Accomplishment” that covers the period from July 1 to July 13.

Getting the numbers right in the PNP’s war on drugs is hampered in large measure by the fractious but parallel agencies assigned to operations and case monitoring.

In this instance, the DIDM and the NOC reports seem to be focused on the same monitoring pegs – numbers of people killed, arrested, surrendered, etc. – but across different time frames.

But if their numbers are correct and identical, except for the covered periods in their respective reports, a comparison of their data would yield clustered numbers for the period before the birth of the Duterte administration, and in the two weeks since it assumed power.

Thus, from May 10 to June 30 – the day Duterte took his oath as President – and again from July 1 to 13, the war on drugs, according to the PNP’s DIDM and NOC, yields these clustered numbers:

• 57 killed from May 10 to June 30; 135 killed from July 1 to 13.

• 6,266 arrested from May 10 to June 30; 1,844 arrested from July 1 to 13.

• 31,260 “surrendered” to the PNP from May 10 to June 30; 4,016 “surrendered” to the PNP from July 1 to 13.

Note that in addition to the number of suspects who reportedly surrendered to the police, the PNP NOC, in a separate report, said that more than 60,000 “drug users” and about 6,000 “drug pushers” had been located or had “surrendered” to local and barangay officials under ‘Oplan Tokhang,’ the anti-drug war operations on the village level.

What the PNP’s NOC reports do not reveal, though, are the numbers of cases “referred” and “filed in court” that the DIDM report shows.

What the DIDM report does not offer, and which the PNP’s NOC reports enroll, are the number of “houses visited” under Oplan Tokhang. 

In 2 weeks:

43,000 homes ‘visited’

By official police data from July 1 to 13 this year, the Duterte administration’s war on crime has already chalked up big, if macabre, numbers: 135 persons killed or about 10 persons a day on average, and 1,844 arrested or about 141 persons a day on average.

 In two weeks’ time, the campaign has also nudged the “surrender” of 60,393 alleged drug users and 5,914 alleged drug pushers, apart from 43,026 houses “visited” by local and village officials to target and flush out suspects, according to official police reports obtained by the PCIJ.

But the PNP data show a curious ratio:  Only one “drug pusher” for every 10 “drug users” have been located or compelled to surrender to the authorities in the last fortnight.

In contrast to the big numbers of those killed, arrested, or have “surrendered,” the police also reported only pithy volumes and values of illegal drugs seized in the operation – sachets and kilos of shabu, a sprinkling of marijuana, and just one tablet of the designer drug “Ecstasy.”

The total amount of the seizure is listed at “146,345 by estimated DDB value,” which presumably translates to P146.3 million.  The PNP report, however, does not show a peso sign; neither does it state if the amount is in the thousands of pesos or some other currency.  

PCIJ asked the PNP to clarify the matter but the officers contacted could not give any explanation as of posting time. – Phl Center for Investigative Journalism