Research and Data on Government Anti-Drug campaign launched
02 Jul 2018
As a response to the growing call for objective and evidence-based analyses on the government’s anti-drug campaign, the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), through the Ateneo School of Government, in partnership with De La Salle Philippines (DLSU), University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD), and The Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism (SCIJ), held a forum titled, “The Philippine Government’s Anti-Drug Campaign: Emerging Evidence and Data” on June 25, 2018 at the Leong Hall Auditorium, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City.
![Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Fr.Villarin.jpg)
Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin, SJ, President of the Ateneo de Manila University, opened the forum by recognizing the Philippines’ “crisis of faith in God and in institutions, in the truth, and in ourselves” and that “schools need to bear witness to the truth” to provide an antidote to this crisis. He mentioned that this “bearing witness” begins with this presentation of the dataset on drug-related killings, the role of local government units (LGUs) on the implementation of the administration’s campaign, and the methods and experiences of these LGUs. He then proceeded to outline the way forward, referring to the launch of a consortium composed of ADMU, DLSU, UPD, and SCIJ. This consortium will advance and generate empirical studies on the Philippine Government’s Anti-Drug Campaign.
![Dr. Clarissa C. David](/sites/default/files/inline-images/dr.C.%20David.jpg)
The first session of the forum was a short depiction of the Anti-Drug Campaign by the numbers. Dr. Clarissa C. David, Senior Research Fellow of the Ateneo School of Government, presented her team’s work on Building a Dataset of Publicly-Available Information on Killings Associated with the Anti-Drug Campaign. The dataset covers information on 5,021 drug-related deaths that occurred from May 10, 2016 (right after the 2016 Presidential Elections) to September 29, 2017. Since data were culled mostly from media reports, Dr. David stressed that the dataset is not an exhaustive list but, in fact, only covers the barest minimum number of deaths. The dataset was built primarily to provide evidence to aid policy recommendations. Dr. David outlined some patterns in the dataset, including the fact that 94% of the killed were male, 40% of the deaths occurred in Metro Manila, and that more than half (55%) of the killings were due to police operations. Only 16% of the cases had identified occupation, and for these cases it is clear that the poor are the most vulnerable in the anti-drug campaign.
![Dr. Ronald U. Mendoza](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Dr.%20R.%20Mendoza.jpg)
Dr. Ronald U. Mendoza, the Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, continued the report by providing information on the causes of death and stated that in 62% of the killings due to police operations (1,711), the person killed was alleged to be a drug pusher. He further shared that, of the deceased, 23% (1,149) were on the “drug watch list”, 11% (533) previously surrendered in Oplan Tokhang, and 41% (2,034) were found with drugs, almost all of them with shabu. While most of the killings happened on the streets or alleys (27%), almost a quarter of the killings (24%) happened inside or right outside a private residence. Dean Mendoza then posed these questions, “Are these acceptable levels of deaths connected to police operations?” and “What is the role of the watchlist?” He closed his piece by saying that the academic community will provide this dataset to government and civil society in light of conflicting reports of government and the absence of an independent reporting body. He hopes “that this work will serve to help initiate truth telling and for us to pursue justice and accountability”.
![Atty. Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Atty.%20Yusingco.jpg)
Atty. Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, a Non-Resident Research Fellow of the Ateneo School of Government, continued the first session with his study on “The Role of Mayors and Barangay Captains in the Philippines’ Anti-Drug Campaign”. With more than 60% of deaths linked to police operations in Quezon City and almost 80% in Manila, Atty. Yusingco challenged the effectivity of LGU leaders and various Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (ADACs) in truly protecting its citizens. AHe also challenged Filipino voters to demand local officials to act on their legal mandates in ensuring the general welfare of their constituents as prescribed by the Local Government Code of 1991.
![malou mangahas](/sites/default/files/inline-images/malou%20mangahas.jpg)
To respond to the data presented in the first session, Atty. Melencio S. Sta. Maria, Jr., Dean of the Far Eastern University Institute of Law, Ms. Malou C. Mangahas, the Executive Director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and Dr. Jayeel S. Cornelio, Associate Professor and Director of the Development Studies Program of the Ateneo de Manila University, were invited to speak.
Dean Sta. Maria posed the “obvious question” of why there are so many deaths despite the fact that the law prohibits the death penalty, and connected this to the inquiry of the International Criminal Court (ICC) into this campaign. Ms. Mangahas said that the data shows a lack of accountability from “not just the President, the Philippine National Police (PNP), or the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)”, but also the Commission on Human Rights in its inability to put out reports, the courts’ inaction in the midst of warrantless arrests, and the Department of Health’s slow work on rehabilitation centers. She challenged everyone to consider this period in our history as an “all-hands-on-deck journalistic project” and that “we must all write this story”. Dr. Cornelio closed the responses to the first session by bringing attention to the data from his own study where he found that “our citizens believe that God has destined this President to become our President to clean up our society”. He challenged the audience to “use the data to speak to the everyday Filipino who is convinced that this is justifiable”.
![Dr. Michael L. Tan](/sites/default/files/inline-images/dr.%20M.%20Tan.jpg)
To introduce the second half of the session, Dr. Michael L. Tan, DVM, Chancellor of the University of the Philippines-Diliman, reminded the audience that the country is still following an internationally-discredited approach on the war on drugs. He said that what works instead is the United Nations’ recommendation which is a combination of decriminalization and strong community support for rehabilitation. He mentioned that the administration’s approach is “part of a bigger campaign to promote a populism that is empty, that instills fear, and prepares us for a more totalitarian form of government,” and urged the academe to document what is really going on.
![Dr. Ma. Regina M. Hechanova](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Dr.M.%20Hechanova.jpg)
The second session of the forum focused on a reformative approach to the campaign against illegal drugs and highlights the study “Implementing Community Based Drug Treatment Programs (CBDTR) in the Philippines: Drivers, Barriers, and Best Practices” by the team of Dr. Ma. Regina M. Hechanova, Professor of the Department of Psychology at the Ateneo de Manila University. Her research assessed the factors affecting the implementation of CBDTR in LGUs around the Philippines. Implementation is driven by leadership (including the absence of punitive messaging in the anti-drug campaign), multi-sectoral partnerships and citizen engagement and support. There is also a need to focus on CBDTRs because the country “has no history of local government treatments” and said that initial programs “Simba-Zumba-Tumba” were largely a failure. Going further into the issue of responding to the country’s drug problem, she said that “it’s not an issue of drugs, but it’s an issue of poverty. It’s a productivity thing - it makes them work harder and longer - ‘tamang sipag’ which comes from drug use”.
![Dr. Elmer S. Soriano, Fr. Joselito "Bong" Sarabia, CM](/sites/default/files/inline-images/dr.%20soriano%20and%20fr.%20sarabia.jpg)
To react to the second session, Dr. Elmer S. Soriano, MD, MPA, Managing Director of Civika Asian Development Academy, Fr. Joselito S. Sarabia, CM, Director of St. Vincent Seminary and Holy Eucharist Mass Action, and Mr. Jose Victor P. Paterno, Vice-Chairperson of the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference for Human Development were asked to speak. Dr. Soriano focused on the need to develop a vision of the future with the help of the academe and his project on “City Futures Labs” where he urged a scientific look on addiction to develop our country’s “version of a culturally compatible approach to the drug problem that will be here for the next decade or so”. Fr. Sarabia highlighted his collaborative work with the families of victims of extrajudicial killings and said that “in this work for healing, we see the need for transparency and the mutual cooperation between Church and State. This is a man-made disaster that calls for urgent action.” Mr. Paterno closed the reactions by sharing his organization’s challenge of scaling up rehabilitation operations with a business startup approach. His team’s efforts are aptly named Community-based Rehab Alliance (COBRA) and is done with the collaboration of the PNP.
![drugarchive](/sites/default/files/inline-images/drugarchive.png)
To formally launch this most comprehensive dataset on drug-related killings in the Philippines since May 2016, Ms. Sheila S. Coronel, Dean of Academic Affairs of Columbia Journalism School provided a walk-through of the website of The Drug Archive Philippines, a research project collating pertinent information on drug-related killings in the Philippines. The data in the website is live and will be updated in the coming months.
![Fr.Luistro](/sites/default/files/inline-images/fr.luistro.jpg)
To close the conference, Bro. Armin A. Luistro, FSC, President of De La Salle Philippines, deemed it difficult to actually deliver a closing, because the event is indeed a start. Instead, he asked the audience what are next steps after this event. “As Filipinos seeking to participate in the ongoing discourse on the anti-drug campaign of the government, as we listen to the horrors, how are we called to respond? With more academic papers? With analysis of what is happening? With more prayers to our 'stupid God'? (quoting the President’s earlier remark) Kung ipipila natin sa kalsada ang katawan ng lahat ng namatay, mapupuno ng isa’t kalahating beses ang buong EDSA,” he said.
Open forums were conducted after each session, and a press conference was conducted with the key speakers after the conference was closed.
The dataset and articles written based on the dataset may be accessed at drugarchive.ph.
The Working Papers for The Philippines’ Anti-Drug Campaign: Building a Dataset of Publicly-Available Information on Killings Associated with the Anti-Drug Campaign may be accessed at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3201814 and The Role of Mayors and Barangay Captains in the Philippines' Anti-Drugs Campaign may be accessed at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3201786.