Philippines pledges more "bloody" war on drugs: they have already executed more than 5,000 people in two years

Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines, took the floor war on drugs The main policy of his tenure and, despite criticism from human rights organizations, said the campaign would be more "bloody" for the three years that he has come to power.

After the president's badertions, the leaders of the Asian country's security organs have announced a change in strategy of the political controversy, which accumulates 5,176 executed by the policeit will now be directed against the leaders of cartels producing and distributing narcotics rather than against consumers.

National Police spokesman Bernard Banac explained the turning point in his fight against Narco: "Given the scale of the problem, we must aim criminal groups operating in the country. Now, we are chasing the big drug lords. "

"The campaign will be more intense. But the operations, which of course will be done with the maximum respect for human rights, will focus on trapping top traffickers, "said Banac.

The official admitted that these operations can be violentsince cartels are armed and "agents can use force if their lives are in danger".

They denounce the violations of human rights

Since the beginning of the war on drugs in July 2016, human rights defenders, the United Nations and a large part of the international community have denounced abuse in police operations and a climate of impunity that causes violence among criminal gangs.

A recently published poll found that 66% of Filipinos think that there are agents involved in narcotics trafficking that are also responsible for the extrajudicial executions of suspectsthat activists and the independent press are responsible for 20,000 murders.

According to the latest official data, since the beginning of the campaign two and a half years ago, 119,841 operations have been carried out, of which 170,689 were arrested, of which 627 were civil servants and 2,016 minors.

From July 1, 2016 to January 31, 2019, drugs were seized for more than 3 months. $ 500 million and 301 laboratories dedicated to the manufacture of drugs have been dismantled.