PHILIPPINE National Police chief General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar assured their continuing solid partnership with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in order to sustain the Duterte government’s aggressive war on drugs since July 2016.

Latest reports from the PDEA headed by Director General Wilkins M. Villanueva said that from July 1, 2016 to July 1 this year, more than P62.22 billion worth of illegal drugs were confiscated including 8,134.61 kilograms of shabu worth P51.33 billion.

The seizures were made by the PDEA, the PNP led by the PNP Drug Enforcement Group under Brigadier Gen. Remus B. Medina and the 17 Police Regional Offices led by the National Capital Region Police Office headed by Major Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr.

Those operations also resulted in the arrest of 303,154 individuals including 12,849 ‘high-value targets,’ among them 388 elected officials, 119 uniformed personnel and 494 government employees.

Government data also indicated that a total of 6,182 drug suspects were killed during gunbattles with law enforcement officers during the period in review. A total of 835 secret drug dens and 18 clandestine shabu laboratories were also smashed by government agents during the past five years.

On the other hand, a total of 22,585 barangays were already declared as ‘drug-cleared.’ Villanueva said they are in the process of clearing the remaining 12,731 barangays from any drug influence this year.

“Our war on drugs has been relentless since it began in 2016 and we have seen an unprecedented massive reduction in the supply of illegal drugs. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the PNP and other law enforcement units have not let up in sustaining gains we have been achieving towards the goal of eradicating the narcotics trade in the country,” said Gen. Eleazar.

He also emphasized that their aggressive operations continued even in the time of pandemic.

“Nagpatuloy ang iligal na gawain ng mga sindikato ng droga sa panahon ng pandemya kaya hindi rin natinag ang inyong PNP at PDEA at patuloy na nagsagawa ng mga operasyon laban sa kanila,” the top cop said.

“Hindi pa tapos ang laban sa droga subalit napakalaki na nang ipinagbago ng sitwasyon ng iligal na droga sa ating bansa at hindi rin maipagkakaila na ang ating tagumpay sa kampanyang ito ay nagresulta ng napakalaking pagbaba sa mga kaso ng krimen batay na rin sa datos ng inyong PNP,” he added.

In July, the PNP and the PDEA signed a joint memorandum circular containing the unified guidelines that should be imposed during anti-illegal drugs operations.

The guidelines are meant to ensure that miscoordination will not happen during drug operations.

“Mananatiling alerto at agresibo ang inyong PNP at ang PDEA laban sa mga sindikatong ito dahil ang kinabukasan ng ating mga kabataan at ng ating bansa ang nakataya dito,” Gen. Eleazar said.