President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s war on drugs has not been bloodless, as it has resulted in hundreds of deaths.
Claim: The Marcos Jr. administration’s drug war has been “bloodless.”
Rating: False
In his third State of the Nation Address on Monday, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. described his administration’s “war on drugs” as “bloodless.”
“Our bloodless war on dangerous drugs adheres, and will continue to adhere, to the established ‘8 Es’ of an effective anti-illegal drugs strategy,” he said. “Extermination was never one of them.”
Marcos Jr.’s remarks appeared to be a critique of his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, who prioritized the fight against illegal drugs during his term.
Data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s Real Numbers PH platform showed that from July 2016 to May 2022, 6,252 individuals were killed in 239,218 anti-drug operations conducted under the Duterte administration.
Contrary to Marcos Jr.’s claim, the University of the Philippines’ Dahas Project reported 474 drug-related killings under his administration as of Nov. 23, 2023.
Unless these individuals were killed through bloodless means such as strangulation or drowning, Marcos Jr.’s claim of a “bloodless” drug war is both literally and factually incorrect. Amanda Luella A. Rivera
