DAVAO CITY (December 19) —More than 160,000 drug personalities have been arrested since the start of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.
The data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) showed since July 2016 to November 30, 2018, 164,265 were arrested.
PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon during the press conference of Real Numbers revealed that 159 of the arrested drug personalities were foreign nationals — 48 were part of Chinese drug syndicates while 12 were Americans, 25 were Taiwanese, and 74 belonged to other nationalities.
PDEA records showed some PHP128.96 million worth of illegal drugs and equipment were seized in November alone. However, the figure was PHP25.19 billion for illegal drugs and equipment seized since July 2016 or the start of Duterte’s term.
The Philippine News Agency in a report said the records of the PDEA showed that 51 drug personalities were killed in the conduct of anti-illegal drug operations in November while 2,681 have been arrested.
Carreon said criticisms about the accuracy of figures they are presenting is misplaced, he said they are providing the public the real numbers and they are presenting the real figures.
“The data have undergone a rigid process of data collation before being released,” Carreon emphasized.
During the press conference, Carreon vouched “We stand by these numbers. These were closely studied. These are the real figures. We’re used to those groups releasing different figures left and right, we do not know where these numbers come from.”-NewsLine with PNA report
