234 public servants nabbed for drugs during quarantine

MANILA, Philippines — Despite President Duterte’s repeated warnings, a total of 234 government officials and workers were arrested for alleged involvement in illegal drugs during the community quarantine.

Data from the government’s RealNumbersPH platform showed that of the number, 69 of those arrested for drug-related offences since quarantine restrictions were imposed in March 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19 were elected officials.

The other drug suspects are 133 government employees and 32 uniformed personnel.

A total of 994 government officials have defied Duterte’s firm stance against the illegal drug trade in the country since 2016. This consists of 489 government employees, 386 elected officials and 119 uniformed personnel.

Duterte recently renewed his threat to kill drug dealers during his final State of the Nation Address last Monday.

Meanwhile, there were 715 minors – aged four to 17 – apprehended in anti-drug operations during community quarantines. Since 2016, a total of 3,800 minors were apprehended.

Also, a total of 510 drug suspects were killed in alleged shootouts with lawmen and 63,318 others were arrested in 44,322 law enforcement operations since last year. Counted from 2016, there were already 6,165 deaths and 298,348 arrests in 207,007 operations.

Law enforcers seized 14,969.74 kilos of shabu, cocaine and marijuana and 122,738 pieces of ecstasy tablets – valued at P61.69 billion – since Duterte took office.

At least 22,461 barangays have been declared drug-free while 12,852 remain drug affected.