Drug-related killings in the Philippines recently reached 223 deaths under the current administration of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. As a result, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) reported these killings on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

Anti-Drugs Operations

Mervin Sol Toquero, the NCCP Program Secretary for Faith, Witness, and Service, stated that there had been 223 drug-related homicides since July 2022, when Marcos took office. He said there is still little accountability on the part of the criminals, PhilStar reported.

The NCCP is one of the organizations that help run the Philippine (Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Watch. As mentioned, the drug-related report comes when the Filipino UPR Watch is in Switzerland to participate in the 52nd Regular Session of the UNHRC's approval of recommendations made in the 4th UPR held in November of the previous year. Out of the 289 recommendations given by other UN-member nations, Manila is expected to adhere to 215 of them. The National Commission on Counterterrorism (NCCP) stated that the Philippines could reject recommendations such as the repeal of "weaponized" legislation.

There are reportedly several recommendations, one of which is to rejoin the International Criminal Court; nevertheless, the likelihood of this being adopted as a recommendation is relatively low.

After the International Criminal Court began a preliminary investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the Duterte administration during its "war on drugs," the Philippine government announced in 2018 that it would withdraw its membership from the ICC, a decision that will become formally effective in 2019.

As per CNN, the United States Department of State noticed that impunity was a "major problem" among the security forces, specifically in the Philippine National Police (PNP). According to the United States 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, "Local and international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch described widespread impunity for killings."

There were neither charges nor convictions for extrajudicial executions in the 12 months leading up to October, and there have only been three such cases since the beginning of the drug war in 2016. The United States Department of State also cited official numbers that law enforcement forces in the Philippines carried out nearly 15,000 anti-drug operations from January to May of last year.

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Drug-Related Crimes in the Philippines

The Human Rights Watch reported that the police admitted to being responsible for the deaths of nearly 6,200 people suspected of using or dealing drugs. It is well known that the PNP manipulates its data on extrajudicial murders connected to the program. Research conducted by Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations discovered that police officers often plant evidence such as illegal narcotics and firearms on victims' bodies to validate their claims that the person had fought back.

In September, Marcos stated that he wished to put more emphasis on rehabilitation. Still, there is little evidence to suggest that the authorities have taken any action to accomplish such a transition. The few so-called drug rehabilitation measures now being implemented by the government violate people's rights since they are not voluntary and include coercion. They also subject drug users to additional stigma.

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