Philippine drug war

Philippine drug war
Philippine drug war
Part of the civil conflict in the Philippines, the War against the Islamic State and spillovers of the Mexican war on drugs
	Duterte shows a diagram of drug syndicates at a press conference on July 7, 2016.
Date	July 1, 2016 – present; (8 years, 11 months and 21 days)
Location	Philippines
Status	Ongoing
Parties
Philippine government Philippine National Police; Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs; Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency; National Bureau of Investigation; Armed Forces of the Philippines; Bureau of Customs; Department of Justice; Anti-Money Laundering Council; Philippine Coast Guard; Non-state participants, armed organizations: CPP-NPA; (until August 2016); MILF; Vigilantes Davao Death Squad; ; Hired hitmen; ; Foreign support: China; (intelligence and financial support); Singapore; (intelligence support); United States; (financial support);	Philippine drug cartels and gangs: Kuratong Baleleng; Waray-Waray gangs; Bahala Na Gang; Sigue Sigue Sputnik; Foreign drug cartels: Sinaloa Cartel; Chinese Triads; Colombian Drug Cartels (allegedly); Jihadist militant and pirate groups: Abu Sayyaf (allegedly); Ninja cops (police officers engaged in the drug trade) Suspected drug users
Lead figures
	President Bongbong Marcos (2022–present); President Rodrigo Duterte (2016–2022); Police General Nicolas Torre (2025–present); Police General Rommel Marbil (2024–2025); Police General Benjamin Acorda Jr. (2023–2024); Police General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. (2022–2023); Police General Dionardo Carlos (2021–2022); Police General Guillermo Eleazar (2021); Police General Debold Sinas (2020–2021); Police General Camilo Cascolan (2020); Police General Archie Gamboa (2019–20); Police General Oscar Albayalde (2018–2019); Director General Ronald dela Rosa (2016–2018); Director General Isidro S. Lapeña (2016–2017); Director General Aaron N. Aquino (2017–2020); Director General Wilkins M. Villanueva (2020–2022); Director General Moro Virgilio M. Lazo (2022–present); Vice President and ICAD Co-Chairperson Leni Robredo (2019);
Casualties and losses
114 killed and 226 wounded (as of January 9, 2022)	6,229 killed in official anti-drug operations (as of March 30, 2022)
	20,000 civilians killed (as of October 7, 2022)

The Philippine drug war, also referred to as the Philippine war on drugs, is the intensified anti-drug campaign initiated during the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, who served as President of the Philippines from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2022. The campaign reduced the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country, but has been marred by extrajudicial killings (EJK) allegedly perpetrated by the police and unknown assailants. By 2022, the number of drug suspects killed since 2016 was officially tallied by the government as totaling 6,252; human rights organizations and academics, however, estimate that 12,000 to 30,000 civilians have been killed in the "anti-drug operations" carried out by the Philippine National Police and vigilantes.

Prior to his presidency, Duterte cautioned that the Philippines was at risk of becoming a narco-state and vowed that his government's fight against illegal drugs would be relentless. He urged the public to kill drug addicts. The anti-narcotics campaign has been condemned by media organizations and human rights groups, which reported staged crime scenes where police allegedly executed unarmed drug suspects, planting guns and drugs as evidence. Philippine authorities have denied misconduct by police.

Duterte has since admitted to underestimating the illegal drug problem when he promised to rid the country of illegal drugs within six months of his presidency, citing border control difficulties against the entry of illegal drugs due to the country's long coastline, and lamenting government officials' and law enforcers' involvement in the drug trade.

In 2022, Duterte urged his successor, Bongbong Marcos, who won the 2022 Philippine presidential election, to continue the war on drugs in "his own way" to protect the youth. Marcos declared his intention to continue the anti-narcotics campaign, but focusing more on prevention and rehabilitation. In 2024, Marcos emphasized that his administration has been following the "8 Es" for an effective strategy against illegal drugs, and that "Extermination was never one of them". Duterte later stated that Marcos' "bloodless" drug war was due to Marcos' privileged background.

Amidst congressional inquiries in 2024 into the drug war, critics began to allege that the campaign was largely used as a front ("grand budol") to benefit a drug syndicate in Davao City connected to Duterte aimed at eliminating its competition. On March 11, 2025, Duterte was arrested by police authorities based on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing him of crimes against humanity for his central role in the drug war; he was extradited to The Hague on the same day. In the same month, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla admitted that the justice system in the Philippines failed the EJK victims of the drug war during Duterte's presidency.

In June 2025, newly-installed PNP chief Nicolas Torre made a courtesy visit to the Commission on Human Rights and affirmed its new oversight function over the police agency regarding adherence to human rights.