case study about law enforcement in the philippines

Invisible no more: Shedding light on police violence and corruption in the Philippines

The Philippines was romanticized and dubbed the “ Pearl of the Orient Seas ” by national hero and writer José Rizal due to the country’s elegant organic beauty. However, the pearl’s beauty has been tainted by increasing police brutality, accelerated in recent years.

After becoming the 16th President of the Philippines in 2016, Rodrigo Duterte was quick and adamant about carrying out a “ war on drugs ” campaign. Duterte implemented extreme measures targeting criminals and non-compliant citizens from impoverished communities to restore peace and order in the country.

In his first press conference after being elected as president, Duterte pledged to end crime, corruption, and the illegal drug trade within three to six months of being elected. However, Duterte implemented this pledge through the promotion of a new measure: “shoot-to-kill” orders.

“What I will do is urge Congress to restore [the] death penalty by hanging,” Duterte said in his first press conference. “If you resist, show violent resistance, my order to police [will be] to shoot to kill. Shoot to kill for organized crime. You heard that? Shoot to kill for every organized crime.”

Unfortunately, Duterte’s strategies to combat the issues faced by Filipinos have conditioned and emboldened the police, creating a sense of invincibility. The implications of Duterte’s extreme strategies include the manslaughter of innocent citizens and the manifestation of police corruption in the country. However, as a new president leads the country, the future of the Philippines’ criminal justice system seems committed to less violent means.

‘Shoot-To-Kill’

Duterte’s shoot-to-kill orders evolved dangerously, putting more innocent Filipino lives at risk and perpetuating the human rights crisis in the country. The global COVID-19 pandemic was not a barrier to Duterte’s anti-crime operations.

Amidst the pandemic, the government implemented an “ Enhanced Community Quarantine ” (ECQ) for the country’s capital, Manila, as well as the entire island of Luzon in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus. During the lockdown, Filipinos were confined in their homes, transportation was suspended, food and health services were regulated, and uniformed personnel patrolled the streets to enforce strict quarantine measures.

During the ECQ, the government did not fulfill its promises as residents did not receive relief support. On April 1, 2020, frustration from community members erupted into political demonstrations in the streets of San Roque, Quezon City. Advocates and protestors asked for answers from the government in regard to their promised supplies and food aid.

Duterte’s response? “ Shoot them dead .”

In a televised address on the same day as the protests, Duterte ordered the police and military to shoot troublemakers if they felt their lives were in danger. “My orders are to the police and military, also village officials, that if there is trouble or the situation arises that people fight and your lives are on the line, shoot them dead,” Duterte said.

According to the World Population Review’s most recent annual data, the Philippines is the country with the world’s highest number of police killings, with over 6,000 between 2016 and 2021.

As of February 2022, based on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) Real Numbers PH data , since Duterte took office in 2016, the government implemented 229,868 operations against illegal drugs, which resulted in the arrest of a total of 331,694 suspects. Beyond this, according to the PDEA, the total number of killings during anti-drug operations reached 6,235.

In November 2021, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project published a comprehensive database of the Philippines revealing that since 2016, at least 7,742 civilians have been killed in anti-drug raids, which is approximately 25 percent higher than the figure issued by the government.

As described by Eliza Romero, a coordinator for the Malaya Movement , a US-based alliance that advocates for human rights, freedom, and democracy in the Philippines, Duterte’s fierce rhetoric has given an invitation to vigilante and extrajudicial violence among the community.

“The shoot-to-kill order will just encourage more extrajudicial killings and vigilantism,” Romero said in an interview with Foreign Policy. “It will give private citizens and barangay [village] captains impunity to commit more human rights violations with the protection of the law while normalizing carnage.”

Behind every number is a real person—whose story has been invisible and whose life has been reduced by police officers who one day decided to target an innocent victim; a brother or sister; a son or daughter; a husband or wife; a father or mother.

Karla A., daughter of Renato A. who was killed in December 2016, recounts her experiences after losing her father at the age of 10, stating in an interview with the Human Rights Watch (HRW), “I was there when it happened when my papa was shot. I saw everything, how my papa was shot. … Our happy family is gone. We don’t have anyone to call father now. We want to be with him, but we can’t anymore.”

Emboldening the Police

Duterte’s enforcement measures to achieve public order put innocent citizens in a battle they have already lost. What is worse is that Duterte not only normalized but justified the killing of innocent citizens. Duterte assured the police impunity , stating that he would not only protect them from human rights abuses but ultimately pardon them if ever they are convicted for carrying out his anti-drug campaigns. This leads to the intensification of corruption within police departments in the country.

Duterte’s shoot-to-kill orders have not shown mercy to victims as he has always been in favor of the police. He never failed to show support for the police in carrying out his campaigns in his public and televised addresses. For instance, Duterte gave orders to Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero stating that “Drugs are still flowing in. I'd like you to kill there [in communities]… anyway, I'll back you up and you won't get jailed. If it's drugs, you shoot and kill. That’s the arrangement,” Duterte said .

Duterte’s vow to protect the police results in police officers feeling emboldened and invincible. Police officers who have followed Duterte’s orders are promoted through the ranks. Police officers are not held accountable for the deaths of innocent civilians; the country’s own President pardons them. On top of this, police officers are falsifying evidence to justify unlawful killings and avoid legal repercussions.

The HRW published a report titled “‘License to Kill’: Philippine Police Killings in Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs,” which analyzed a total of 24 incidents that led to 32 deaths, involving Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel between October 2016 and January 2017. The report concluded that police officers would falsely claim self-defense to justify these killings.

To further strengthen their claims, police officers would plant guns, spent ammunition, and drug packets next to the bodies of victims. In turn, the victims would seem more guilty of being part of drug-related activities. Other times, police officers would work closely with masked gunmen to carry out these extrajudicial killings. In other words, police officers have succeeded in rooting their endeavors in deceit.

Fortunately, there have been instances where some police officers were legally prosecuted in police killings. Three police officers were found guilty of murdering a 17-year-old teenager in 2017, the first conviction of officers ever since Duterte launched his war on drugs.

A Look Into the Future

The Philippines as the “Pearl of the Orient Seas” has lost its luster due to the many problems that the nation continues to face—one of the most prominent ones is Duterte’s explicit abuse of police power. Similar to how pearls lose their glow when not provided with the care it needs, the integrity of police officers has dried out and become yellowed over time due to the government’s complicity.

Time and time again, Duterte has remained an instigator in instances relating to police brutality in the country. Luckily, the Philippines can combat pearl discoloration through the implementation of robust policies that would ensure increased transparency within police departments.

Freshly elected Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. makes the restoration of the yellowed pearl an achievable goal. At the 121st Police Service anniversary celebration held at Camp General Rafael T. Crame in Quezon City—the national headquarters of the PNP—Marcos Jr. brings an opportunity for redemption. Aside from calling the PNP officers “vanguards of peace,” Marcos Jr. urged them to continue serving the community with integrity in order to restore public confidence.

“The use of force must always be reasonable, justifiable, and only undertaken when necessary. Execution of authority must be fair, it must be impartial,” Marcos Jr. said . “It must be devoid of favoritism and discrimination, regardless of race, gender, social economic status, political affiliation, [and] religious belief. It is only then that you can effectively sustain with great respect and wide support the authority that you possess as uniformed servicemen of the Republic.”

Beyond this, Marcos Jr. highlighted his hope for reforming the police system under the leadership of newly installed PNP Chief Police General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. Moreover, Marcos Jr.’s aspirations to increase accountability within police departments will be complemented by Azurin Jr.’s launching of a peace and security framework titled “MKK=K” or “Malasakit + Kaayusan + Kapayapaan = Kaunlaran” which translates to policies founded on “the combination of care, order and peace shall equate to progress.”

On the other hand, it is understandable if Filipino citizens and human rights activists have lost hope for the possibility of achieving meaningful progress in reforming the broken police system. Marcos Jr. is the son of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. , an ousted dictator who infamously declared martial law in the country, and Filipinos are still navigating the trauma of the Marcos era 50 years later.

Currently, Marcos Jr. pledges to continue the campaign against illegal drugs but with an emphasis on drug prevention and rehabilitation . Under this new framework, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) implemented a program dubbed “Buhay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan (Value Life, Shun Drugs)” which aims to address the root of the problem by suppressing the demand for illegal drugs. According to DILG Secretary Benjamin ‘Benhur’ Abalos Jr., the initiative needs support and solidarity from all sectors of the community in order to ensure its effectiveness.

Simultaneously, Marcos Jr. has no intention to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on their investigation of the country’s drug war killings. Based on the ICC ’s official website, their purpose “is intended to complement, not to replace, national criminal systems; it prosecutes cases only when States do not are unwilling or unable to do so genuinely.” However, Marcos Jr. stated in an interview that “The ICC, very simply, is supposed to take action when a country no longer has a functioning judiciary… That condition does not exist in the Philippines. So I do not see what role the ICC will play in the Philippines.”

Nearly five months into Marcos Jr.’s administration, the University of the Philippines’ Dahas Project revealed that 152 people have died in anti-drug police raids as of Nov. 30. The report further disclosed that the drug casualties under Marcos Jr. “[are] exceeding the 149 killings recorded during the final six months of the Duterte government. During the first half of the year under Duterte, the average daily rate was 0.8. So far under Marcos, the rate stands at one per day.”

In the Philippines, police officers have repeatedly assumed the roles of prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner. HRW Deputy Director for Asia Phil Robertson points out shortcomings in Marcos Jr.’s campaigns describing that “Using a drug rehabilitation approach means little when police and mystery gunmen are still executing suspected drug users and dealers. Law enforcers should receive clear orders to stop the ‘drug war’ enforcement once and for all.” The only way to effectively mitigate police killings in the Philippines is by abandoning violent and punitive measures against illegal drugs.

Ultimately, despite these obstacles, the yellowed pearl can still brighten. Under new leadership for both the national government and police department, the Philippines may embark on a journey of reconstruction and rehabilitation. In this process, the hope is to finally shed light on the issue of police violence in the country, implement fruitful solutions to combat the problem and advocate for innocent victims who might have felt invisible in their battle against police brutality. Once the light has been restored, the Philippines can finally live up to its billing as the beautiful and pure “Pearl of the Orient Seas”.

Laurinne Jamie Eugenio

Recent posts, botswana: the pragmatic path to prosperity.

The United States of Europe and Liberalism in the 21st Century: Interview with Beate Meinl-Reisinger, chairwoman of Austria’s NEOS party

A New Vision for Thailand: Interview with Pita Limjaroenrat, Member of the Thai House of Representatives and Former Leader of the Move Forward Party

Israel, Gaza, and Operation Swords of Iron: Interview with Sharren Haskel, Member of the Israeli Knesset

Medical Servitude: The Other Side of Cuban Medical Diplomacy

You Might Be Interested In

Is beijing creating a new sino-russian world order the russian invasion of ukraine might change beijing’s calculus for taiwan and the united states, defying dictatorships: an interview with garry kasparov, cambodia’s triumph and tragedy: the un’s greatest experiment 30 years on.

CASE STUDY: Upskilling traffic police officers to tackle speeding in the Philippines

From the recent APRSO webinar "Meeting the Global Road Safety Performance Targets: Case Studies from Pakistan and the Philippines"

In 2019, traffic or road accidents claimed 13,000 lives in the Philippines. That means about one per 8,300 Filipinos. There are many factors that contribute to such sobering statistics--but bright spots in this space include new legislations that tackle speeding, drink driving, and helmet or seatbelt use, among others.

Now, the focus is on actually making sure that people abide by these laws. “To save more lives, we need better enforcement,” Dr Gundo Weiler, the World Health Organization Representative in the Philippines, previously said .

In a recent ADB Transport knowledge sharing webinar, speed enforcement in the Philippines was the highlight of a presentation by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP). “We focus on the capacity building for law enforcement agencies,” explained Marcin Flieger, Manager for Road Policing Capacity Building at the GRSP.

Flieger’s teammate, Senior Officer Robert Susanj, went on to share how he worked with local law enforcement agencies in the Philippines over six months to train officers in speed enforcement basics. Within that time, there was a “need to establish a speed enforcement system, a need to ‘train the trainers’, and start local training”.

Traffic police officers in this training programme learned best practices; the latest speed measurement technologies; how to prepare speed checkpoints; and how to conduct speed enforcement safely. “Stopping vehicles at high speed is dangerous, and there are no possible shortcuts,” Susanj noted. Officers were also trained to use different speed measuring devices, he added.

Susanj was keen to point out that physical policing goes hand in hand with the use of automated enforcement, such as speed cameras. “Automated enforcement is very effective in ‘black spots’, where traffic volume is higher. Physical policing can also support,” he said. “Not only for speed enforcement, but to check drivers for other violations--[related] risk factors like drunk driving.”

Within just six months, the programme had trained 150 officers across the Philippines. 150 trained officers, armed with ten devices, sounds like a relatively low number, Susanj remarked. Consider that the Philippines has a population of over 100 million and a network of 33 million kilometres of roads.

But it is a promising start. Imagine if each device was used just five hours a day, for five days a week, and caught five speeding drivers an hour, Susanj went on to say. Theoretically, an estimated 30,000 speeding drivers could be stopped in a period of four months. 

“Even 150 officers with only ten devices could achieve an amazing effect on the public and their attitude,” he said. This does not even take into account the word-of-mouth among drivers to look out for these devices, or if there was a large media campaign to build awareness of the dangers of speeding. 

Road safety, whether within the Philippines or beyond, is an evolving challenge. It continues to be a major priority for ADB’s Developing Member Countries, noted Jamie Leather, transport safety chief of the ADB, in his opening remarks for the webinar. His words summarise the very real human cost at stake: “It’s the end users, it’s the population who suffers--both from fatalities, but also from the serious injuries.”

About the Speakers:

• Marcin Flieger is the Manager for Road Policing Capacity Building of the Global Road Safety Partnership.
• Robert Susanj is a Senior Officer for Road Policing Capacity Building of the Global Road Safety Partnership.

Contact Person

Related links.

• About APRSO
• News & Activities
• Data & Knowledge

Our Story & Mission

Our Strategy

Annual Reports & Finances

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Code of Conduct & Policies

Legal Disclosures

Explore Research

Public Data

Evidence Generation

Sectoral Expertise

Agriculture

Consumer Protection

Entrepreneurship & Private Sector Development

Financial Inclusion

Health & Nutrition

Human Trafficking

Intimate Partner Violence

Peace & Recovery

Social Protection

Research Funding

Open Opportunities

Closed Opportunities

Rigorous Research

High-Quality Data

Ethics & IPA IRB

Research Methods

Research Support

Evidence Use

COVID-19 Response

Embedded Evidence Labs

Policy Influence

Scaling What Works

Advisory Services

Poverty Measurement

Right-Fit Evidence

IPA has 20 country offices, listed here, as well as projects in 30+ more countries across the globe.

View Full Map

East Africa

West Africa

Burkina Faso

Côte d’Ivoire

Sierra Leone

Philippines

Latin America & the Caribbean

Dominican Republic

Equipping Decision-Makers

Influencing Policy & Programming

What Do We Mean by Impact?

Theory of Action

For Practitioners

For Policymakers

For Researchers

See funding opportunities»

The Impact of Community Policing on Attitudes and Public Safety in the Philippines

How can community-oriented policing practices be implemented in a way that sustainably increases trust in the police and reduces crime in areas where state legitimacy is low? In the Philippines, researchers examined the effects of a community policing program on attitudes towards the police and public safety outcomes. The intervention combined community engagement with problem-oriented policing. Researchers found that the intervention had no effect on the main outcomes of interest including crime victimization, perceptions of insecurity, citizen perceptions of police, police abuse, or citizen cooperation with the police. These results are consistent in all countries examined under the Metaketa initiative: Brazil, Colombia, Liberia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Uganda. 

Policy Issue

Low legitimacy and lack of trust limit state capacity in providing public goods and services. This problem is particularly pertinent to policing, where officers need information about what is happening in the community to provide services effectively and efficiently. Citizens give the police information about which problems are most pressing, the location of crime hotspots, concerns about suspicious people or activities, and reports of crimes that have occurred. The police use this information to allocate their limited resources to prevent crime and ensure public safety. When citizens don't trust the police, this whole mechanism gets crushed. 

Collaboration between the police and the community ( a.k.a. community policing) may increase citizen trust and enhance police ability to enforce the law, particularly in contexts in which the state's legitimacy is challenged. However, few studies have explored the effects of these types of interventions on trust and crime indicators. This study aims to do so as part of a multi-country effort by the Metaketa Initiative. 

Context of the Evaluation

The study was conducted in The Sorsogon Province of the Philippines, an area still considered a "hotspot" for activity in the longstanding communist rebellion of the National People's Army (NPA). While this is currently a low-level insurgency and violent altercations are relatively rare, the NPA is entrenched in the fabric of many communities of Sorsogon province and competes with the state over the provision of many services, including public safety. In Sorsogon, as in the rest of rural areas or neighborhoods in urban areas, policing services are provided by Tanods. Tanods are semi-professional community officers that deal with minor crimes such as theft, harassment, and public nuisance. In rural areas with limited police presence, Tanods provide a conduit through which citizens can report more serious crimes without making a costly and time-consuming trip to a municipal police station. However, there is little institutional incentive for collaboration between Tanods and the national police and virtually no oversight.

Details of the Intervention

Researchers evaluated the effects of a community policing program on attitudes towards the police and public safety outcomes. The intervention combined community engagement with problem-oriented policing and was implemented in two phases. 

During the first phase, villages were randomly assigned to a comparison group or a program group in which national police officers engaged with citizens as part of the large-scale project "One Sorsogon". The objective was to relay information about ongoing crime-reduction efforts and gather information from citizens about their community's most pressing problems. In some villages, an existing but little-used SMS tips hotline was advertised to encourage citizens to send relevant information to the police. 

During the second phase, problem-oriented policing teams were created to identify the most pressing issues in each village and develop specific plans to target those issues. Each team received a budget to conduct monthly meetings and implement their public safety plan. Program villages were randomly assigned to either a  team integrated by tanods only or a team integrated  by tanods and police officers. In addition, some program villages received top-down accountability from the Mayor’s office and some from the Department of Interior and Local Government Provincial Office.

Researchers conducted surveys before the program began, after approximately half of the villages had received the program and at the end of the intervention to collect information on citizen trust, perceived state legitimacy, victimization, and crime rates. For this last indicator, researchers also used administrative data.

Results and Policy Lessons

Researchers found that community policing had no effect on the main outcomes of interest including crime victimization, perceptions of insecurity, citizen perceptions of police, police abuse, or citizen cooperation with the police. These results are consistent in all countries examined under the Metaketa initiative: Brazil, Colombia, Liberia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Uganda. 

Given the diversity of analyzed countries, it is unlikely that researchers selected hard cases in which community policing was unlikely to be effective. They also obtained extraordinary access to the police’s internal data and conducted rigorous surveys of both citizens and the police, including a crime victimization survey. They measured community policing on five key possible outcomes: crime incidence, citizens’ perceptions of safety, citizen’s perceptions of police, police accountability, and citizen crime reporting.  Consequently, researchers are confident that community policing in the Global South is not, by and large, delivering the benefits that its advocates claim. It does not appear to reduce crime, and it does not lead to improvements in citizen trust in the police. 

At least in the short term, community policing, as it was implemented in these countries, does not lead to a virtuous cycle of citizen cooperation with police efforts to fight crime.

CASE  STUDIES

The overarching project goal is to reinforce public debates about the risks and consequences of authoritarian rule in the Philippines by enabling members of the academic community to become more active and persuasive participants in these debates. The project strategy is to establish a research network with representatives from the academic community, civil society and the media that will undertake a collaborative research project. Impact will be achieved through the establishment of a research network, research-specific capacity-building among network partners, the production of multi-disciplinary and high quality research, and effective dissemination oriented toward social impact. Taken together, these intermediate results will translate into improved research practices and new knowledge that can sustain a more nuanced and fact-based debate on the state of democracy, human rights, and violence in the Philippines.

Segregating Lives, Recycling Violence: Examining the Local Dynamics of Rodrigo Duterte’s Drug War in Barangay Payatas

Abstract Using the experience of Barangay Payatas under Duterte’s drug war, the study examines the continuity of violence as it manifests in a local community and as against the backdrop of state formation, rejecting the notion that violence is distributed equally...

Struggling Women in the Face of Tokhang: A Feminist Action Research on the Women Victim-Survivors in Duterte’s Drug War in Bulacan

When Tokhang was implemented by Duterte, he [my husband] surrendered to the police. He underwent community-based rehabilitation and was eventually released. There were three policemen who went to our house, even though he already surrendered, the police still went to...

The War on Drugs, The Abra Story

Abstract The drug situation in the province of Abra has been the subject of vacillating narratives.From being reported as having the worst case in its region in July 2016, to being, albeitunofficially, declared as drug-free just six-months into the Duterte...

Tokhang in North Caloocan: Weaponizing Local Governance, Social Disarticulation, and Community Resistance

(This is an edited excerpt from a case study written by the author for the project, “Violence, Human Rights, and Democracy in the Philippines.” The project is a joint undertaking by the Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University...

Dissent and Its Consequences under the Duterte Administration: The Cebu Experience

Abstract Rampant repression and persecution, oftentimes violent, underscore the response of the Duterte administration towards dissidents. Documentation of these incidences, however, has hardly included narratives from the Visayas region. Centering on the province of...

The Subnational Dynamics of the War on Drugs: The Case of Iloilo City

Abstract Uncovering the factors contributing to the spike of violent law enforcement in the Duterteadministration requires a research that carefully combines both structural and contextuallevels of analysis. The study analyzes the subnational political dynamics of the...

Factors and Forces That Led to The Marawi Debacle

(This is an excerpt from a case study written by the author for the project, “Violence, Human Rights, and Democracy in the Philippines.” The project is a joint undertaking by the Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the...

The Manobo Community of Han-ayan: Enduring Continuities and Changes in Militarization

(On December 4, 2019 Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana was quoted in media reports that he is not recommending to President Rodrigo Duterte the extension of martial law in Mindanao. The original declaration was made by President Duterte on May 23, 2017 in response to...

Mirroring Duterte

by Karol Ilagan, Agatha Fabricante, and Christine Fabro | Case Studies, Mindanao (This is an excerpt from a case study written by the authors for the project, “Violence, Human Rights, and Democracy in the Philippines.” The project is a joint undertaking by the Third...

Politics of Prowess: (Re)animating Violence, Politics, and Democracy in a Philippine Political Frontier

Abstract The political development of Davao indicates a pattern of leadership marked by tough, unconventional, and high-handed authority. Politicians who exhibit this kind of leadership are recognized and voted to power. They utilize coercive forces and offer the...

"The enemy is here," Omarkhayam was quoted as having told his younger brother, "why do I need to ask permission" to launch an attack? The enemy is here, why shouldn't we fight?" The military believed it was Abu Dar who reinforced Omarkhayam's unprovoked attack on the military detachment.

The formulation of an ethical and political response to the violence continuously visited by the state upon civilian indigenous communities entails a long, complex dialogue, and for that very reason, such a dialogue needs to be initiated soonest. perhaps sharing the tales of the manobo with which i have been entrusted can help in this process, especially as their stories are not simply astonishing, or moving, or interesting, but most importantly, true., the impact of tokhang could be similar to the demolition of communities but its methods are more brutal and sinister while shrouded in extralegal secrecy and affects a wider segment of the local population. it intensifies state intrusion into the lives of the poor, overkill police deployment is legitimized, and the community’s state of underdevelopment is entirely blamed on the drug problem. it also undermines solidarity among neighbors by instigating citizen surveillance which makes it more difficult to promote unity in challenging the reign of oppressive local authorities. community solidarity is shattered by tokhang where everybody is seen as a suspect or snitch in a supposedly drug-affected barangay., one manobo woman declared that “the symbol of martial law here is [the military’s] deployment of drones” (ang hulagway sa martial law diri kining pagpalupad nila og drone). this statement captures what, for the manobo, is the most salient characteristic of life under duterte’s martial law: it is not just the continuing, virtually constant threat or reality of militarization, which, after all, is not peculiar to the duterte administration. rather, it is the community’s perception that they—manobo residents of civilian communities—are actively being targeted by the state’s counterinsurgency forces and programs. because each appearance of the [drone] is, from bitter experience, linked to subsequent military ground operations, the drone is not merely an eye employed in surveillance, but is also a virtual gun sight used to aim the violence of militarization at manobo villages..

Human Rights and the Law Enforcement in the Criminal Justice System: A case study of the City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines

• Princess Saharah L. Villegas University of the Cordilleras, Baguio City, 2600 Philippines, Criminal Justice Education, Graduate School https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3953-8129

Policing and the criminal justice system would only encourage the public's trust once dignity and equality are upheld in protecting and serving the community. This study aims to reveal how police conform to the Human Rights Law, specific freedom from cruel, inhumane, and degrading punishment or treatment to formulate a more Intensified Prevention Plan (IPP) based on the evidence. A qualitative study approach has been adopted, and interviews were conducted among seven (7) participants from the San Jose del Monte Police Station. The results show that the protection of all individuals was based on the guiding principles mandated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution and the Anti-Torture Act of 2009, which were valid methods of proving the existence of general law principles. The public apathy and advertisement of exaggerated information among Police officers implicate a negative impact on the whole organization in the exercise of protecting the rights of all individuals. Recognizing the innovative approach to exercising their sworn duties and responsibilities among the community and giving them a simple value of appreciation for their good deeds are already countless gratitude in every heart of all uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police.

Author Biography

Princess saharah l. villegas, university of the cordilleras, baguio city, 2600 philippines, criminal justice education, graduate school.

Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice with Specialization in Criminology

How to Cite

• Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)

Open Access

Indexing & Databases

AdvancedScience

Reviewer Credits

Make a Submission

Copyright © 2022 - All rights reserved by Journal of Advances in Humanities Research Publisher: United Frontiers Publisher

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Ann Glob Health
• v.85(1); 2019

The Manila Declaration on the Drug Problem in the Philippines

Nymia simbulan.

1 University of Southern California, US

Leonardo Estacio

Carissa dioquino-maligaso, teodoro herbosa, mellissa withers.

2 University of the Philippines, PH

When Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte assumed office in 2016, his government launched an unprecedented campaign against illegal drugs. The drug problem in the Philippines has primarily been viewed as an issue of law enforcement and criminality, and the government has focused on implementing a policy of criminalization and punishment. The escalation of human rights violations has caught the attention of groups in the Philippines as well as the international community. The Global Health Program of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a non-profit network of 50 universities in the Pacific Rim, held its 2017 annual conference in Manila. A special half-day workshop was held on illicit drug abuse in the Philippines which convened 167 participants from 10 economies and 21 disciplines. The goal of the workshop was to collaboratively develop a policy statement describing the best way to address the drug problem in the Philippines, taking into consideration a public health and human rights approach to the issue. The policy statement is presented here.

When Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte assumed office on June 30, 2016, his government launched an unprecedented campaign against illegal drugs. He promised to solve the illegal drug problem in the country, which, according to him, was wreaking havoc on the lives of many Filipino families and destroying the future of the Filipino youth. He declared a “war on drugs” targeting users, peddlers, producers and suppliers, and called for the Philippine criminal justice system to put an end to the drug menace [ 1 ].

According to the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) (the government agency mandated to formulate policies on illegal drugs in the Philippines), there are 1.8 million current drug users in the Philippines, and 4.8 million Filipinos report having used illegal drugs at least once in their lives [ 2 ]. More than three-quarters of drug users are adults (91%), males (87%), and have reached high school (80%). More than two-thirds (67%) are employed [ 2 ]. The most commonly used drug in the Philippines is a variant of methamphetamine called shabu or “poor man’s cocaine.” According to a 2012 United Nations report, the Philippines had the highest rate of methamphetamine abuse among countries in East Asia; about 2.2% of Filipinos between the ages 16–64 years were methamphetamines users.

The drug problem in the Philippines has primarily been viewed as an issue of law enforcement and criminality, and the government has focused on implementing a policy of criminalization and punishment. This is evidenced by the fact that since the start of the “war on drugs,” the Duterte government has utilized punitive measures and has mobilized the Philippine National Police (PNP) and local government units nationwide. With orders from the President, law enforcement agents have engaged in extensive door-to-door operations. One such operation in Manila in August 2017 aimed to “shock and awe” drug dealers and resulted in the killing of 32 people by police in one night [ 3 ].

On the basis of mere suspicion of drug use and/or drug dealing, and criminal record, police forces have arrested, detained, and even killed men, women and children in the course of these operations. Male urban poor residents in Metro Manila and other key cities of the country have been especially targeted [ 4 ]. During the first six months of the Duterte Presidency (July 2016–January 2017), the PNP conducted 43,593 operations that covered 5.6 million houses, resulting in the arrest of 53,025 “drug personalities,” and a reported 1,189,462 persons “surrendering” to authorities, including 79,349 drug dealers and 1,110,113 drug users [ 5 ]. Government figures show that during the first six months of Duterte’s presidency, more than 7,000 individuals accused of drug dealing or drug use were killed in the Philippines, both from legitimate police and vigilante-style operations. Almost 2,555, or a little over a third of people suspected to be involved in drugs, have been killed in gun battles with police in anti-drug operations [ 5 , 6 ]. Community activists estimate that the death toll has now reached 13,000 [ 7 ]. The killings by police are widely believed to be staged in order to qualify for the cash rewards offered to policeman for killing suspected drug dealers. Apart from the killings, the recorded number of “surrenderees” resulting in mass incarceration has overwhelmed the Philippine penal system, which does not have sufficient facilities to cope with the population upsurge. Consequently, detainees have to stay in overcrowded, unhygienic conditions unfit for humans [ 8 ].

The escalation of human rights violations, particularly the increase in killings, both state-perpetrated and vigilante-style, has caught the attention of various groups and sectors in society including the international community. Both police officers and community members have reported fear of being targeted if they fail to support the state-sanctioned killings [ 9 ]. After widespread protests by human rights groups, Duterte called for police to shoot human rights activists who are “obstructing justice.” Human Rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have said that Duterte’s instigation of unlawful police violence and the incitement of vigilante killings may amount to crimes against humanity, violating international law [ 10 , 11 ]. The European Union found that human rights have deteriorated significantly since Duterte assumed power, saying “The Philippine government needs to ensure that the fight against drug crimes is conducted within the law, including the right to due process and safeguarding of the basic human rights of citizens of the Philippines, including the right to life, and that it respects the proportionality principle [ 12 ].” Despite the fact that, in October 2017, Duterte ordered the police to end all operations in the war on drugs, doubts remain as to whether the state-sanctioned killings will stop [ 13 ]. Duterte assigned the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to be the sole anti-drug enforcement agency.

Duterte’s war on drugs is morally and legally unjustifiable and has created large-scale human rights violations; and is also counterproductive in addressing the drug problem. International human rights groups and even the United Nations have acknowledged that the country’s drug problem cannot be resolved using a punitive approach, and the imposition of criminal sanctions and that drug users should not be viewed and treated as criminals [ 14 ]. Those critical of the government’s policy towards the illegal drug problem have emphasized that the drug issue should be viewed as a public health problem using a rights-based approach (RBA). This was affirmed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on the 2015 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illegal Trafficking when he stated, “…We should increase the focus on public health, prevention, treatment and care, as well as on economic, social and cultural strategies [ 15 ].” The United Nations Human Rights Council released a joint statement in September 2017, which states that the human rights situation in the Philippines continued to cause serious concern. The Council urged the government of the Philippines to “take all necessary measures to bring these killings to an end and cooperate with the international community to pursue appropriate investigations into these incidents, in keeping with the universal principles of democratic accountability and the rule of law [ 16 ].” In October 2017, the Philippines Dangerous Drug Board (DDB) released a new proposal for an anti-drug approach that protects the life of the people. The declaration includes an implicit recognition of the public health aspect of illegal drug use, “which recognizes that the drug problem as both social and psychological [ 16 ].”

Workshop on Illicit Drug Abuse in the Philippines

The Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) is a non-profit network of 50 leading research universities in the Pacific Rim region, representing 16 economies, 120,000 faculty members and approximately two million students. Launched in 2007, the APRU Global Health Program (GHP) includes approximately 1,000 faculty, students, and researchers who are actively engaged in global health work. The main objective of the GHP is to advance global health research, education and training in the Pacific Rim, as APRU member institutions respond to global and regional health challenges. Each year, about 300 APRU GHP members gather at the annual global health conference, which is hosted by a rotating member university. In 2017, the University of the Philippines in Manila hosted the conference and included a special half-day workshop on illicit drug abuse in the Philippines.

Held on the first day of the annual APRU GHP conference, the workshop convened 167 university professors, students, university administrators, government officials, and employees of non-governmental organizations (NGO), from 21 disciplines, including anthropology, Asian studies, communication, dentistry, development, education, environmental health, ethics, international relations, law, library and information science, medicine, nutrition, nursing, occupational health, pharmaceutical science, physical therapy, political science, psychology, public health, and women’s studies. The participants came from 10 economies: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and the US. The special workshop was intended to provide a venue for health professionals and workers, academics, researchers, students, health rights advocates, and policy makers to: 1) give an overview on the character and state of the drug problem in the Philippines, including the social and public health implications of the problem and the approaches being used by the government in the Philippines; 2) learn from the experiences of other countries in the handling of the drug and substance abuse problem; and 3) identify appropriate methods and strategies, and the role of the health sector in addressing the problem in the country. The overall goal of the workshop was to collaboratively develop a policy statement describing the best way to address this problem in a matnner that could be disseminated to all the participants and key policymakers both in the Philippines, as well as globally.

The workshop included presentations from three speakers and was moderated by Dr. Carissa Paz Dioquino-Maligaso, head of the National Poison Management and Control Center in the Philippines. The first speaker was Dr. Benjamin P. Reyes, Undersecretary of the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Board, who spoke about “the State of the Philippine Drug and Substance Abuse Problem in the Philippines.” The second speaker was Dr. Joselito Pascual, a medical specialist from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, at the University of the Philippines General Hospital in Manila. His talk was titled “Psychotropic Drugs and Mental Health.” The final speaker was Patrick Loius B. Angeles, a Policy and Research Officer of the NoBox Transitions Foundation, whose talk was titled “Approaches to Addressing the Drug and Substance Abuse Problem: Learning from the Experiences of Other Countries.” Based on the presentations, a draft of the Manila Declaration on the Drug Problem in the Philippines was drafted by the co-authors of this paper. The statement was then sent to the workshop participants for review and comments. The comments were reviewed and incorporated into the final version, which is presented below.

Declaration

“Manila Statement on the Drug Problem in the Philippines”

Gathering in this workshop with a common issue and concern – the drug problem in the Philippines and its consequences and how it can be addressed and solved in the best way possible;

Recognizing that the drug problem in the Philippines is a complex and multi-faceted problem that includes not only criminal justice issues but also public health issues and with various approaches that can be used in order to solve such;

We call for drug control policies and strategies that incorporate evidence-based, socially acceptable, cost-effective, and rights-based approaches that are designed to minimize, if not to eliminate, the adverse health, psychological, social, economic and criminal justice consequences of drug abuse towards the goal of attaining a society that is free from crime and drug and substance abuse;

Recognizing, further, that drug dependency and co-dependency, as consequences of drug abuse, are mental and behavioral health problems, and that in some areas in the Philippines injecting drug use comorbidities such as the spread of HIV and AIDS are also apparent, and that current prevention and treatment interventions are not quite adequate to prevent mental disorders, HIV/AIDS and other co-morbid diseases among people who use drugs;

Affirming that the primacy of the sanctity/value of human life and the value of human dignity, social protection of the victims of drug abuse and illegal drugs trade must be our primary concern;

And that all health, psycho-social, socio-economic and rights-related interventions leading to the reduction or elimination of the adverse health, economic and social consequences of drug abuse and other related co-morbidities such as HIV/AIDS should be considered in all plans and actions toward the control, prevention and treatment of drug and substance abuse;

As a community of health professionals, experts, academics, researchers, students and health advocates, we call on the Philippine government to address the root causes of the illegal drug problem in the Philippines utilizing the aforementioned affirmations . We assert that the drug problem in the country is but a symptom of deeper structural ills rooted in social inequality and injustice, lack of economic and social opportunities, and powerlessness among the Filipino people. Genuine solutions to the drug problem will only be realized with the fulfillment and enjoyment of human rights, allowing them to live in dignity deserving of human beings. As members of educational, scientific and health institutions of the country, being rich and valuable sources of human, material and technological resources, we affirm our commitment to contribute to solving this social ill that the Philippine government has considered to be a major obstacle in the attainment of national development.

The statement of insights and affirmations on the drug problem in the Philippines is a declaration that is readily applicable to other countries in Asia where approaches to the problem of drug abuse are largely harsh, violent and punitive.

As a community of scholars, health professionals, academics, and researchers, we reiterate our conviction that the drug problem in the Philippines is multi-dimensional in character and deeply rooted in the structural causes of poverty, inequality and powerlessness of the Filipino people. Contrary to the government’s position of treating the issues as a problem of criminality and lawlessness, the drug problem must be addressed using a holistic and rights-based approach, requiring the mobilization and involvement of all stakeholders. This is the message and the challenge which we, as members of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, want to relay to the leaders, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and human rights advocates in the region; we must all work together to protect and promote health and well being of all populations in our region.

Competing Interests

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

To read this content please select one of the options below:

Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, police corruption and its control in the philippines.

Asian Education and Development Studies

ISSN : 2046-3162

Article publication date: 26 November 2019

Issue publication date: 31 March 2020

The purpose of this paper is to analyse police corruption in the Philippines and to assess measures to control it.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper identifies the causes of police corruption and assesses anti-corruption measures adopted by the Philippine National Police and other agencies. The paper utilizes surveys, interviews, reported cases and official documents to determine the extent of police corruption, identify its causes and assess the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures.

Police corruption is systemic in the Philippines. Political and economic circumstances, both historical and contemporary, combined with weak internal controls and other inadequate anti-corruption measures perpetuate systemic police corruption.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the academic literature on police corruption in the Philippines. It would be of interest to policymakers, scholars, as well as anti-corruption and development practitioners who are involved in institutional and governance reforms.

• Organizational culture
• Office of the Ombudsman
• Police corruption
• Philippine National Police

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Kevin Agojo, Yegor Barroquillo, Carlo Manongsong, Karl Deximo and Michelle Sta. Romana for their research assistance.

Batalla, E.V.C. (2020), "Police corruption and its control in the Philippines", Asian Education and Development Studies , Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 157-168. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-05-2018-0099

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles

We’re listening — tell us what you think, something didn’t work….

Report bugs here

All feedback is valuable

Please share your general feedback

Join us on our journey

Platform update page.

Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

Questions & More Information

Answers to the most commonly asked questions here