During a press briefing in Malacañang, Tuesday, Secretary Karlo Nograles defended President Duterte’s drug campaign over the remarks of presidential aspirant Panfilo Lacson who commented that the campaign was too focused on the enforcement side.

“Wala pong sinayang si Pangulong Duterte against illegal drugs and the facts will speak for themselves,” Nograles said in a virtual media briefing, stating that there was no waste of resources in the president’s campaign against illegal drugs.

According to the Acting Presidential Spokesperson, there is over PHP74 billion worth of confiscations and 23,686 barangays were drug-free from July 2016 to November 2021.

“The government continues its campaign against illegal drugs doon sa mga un-cleared barangays as often as possible,” Nograles stated, emphasizing that the expanded campaign continues to remain effective across the country.

In the same year, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency recorded 1,000 dens and clandestine laboratories and arrested 319,929 individuals due to the illegal-drug acts. There are 6,221 drug personalities who died in 221,657 anti-illegal drug operations.

Nograles addressed that the administration never intended to tolerate the extrajudicial killings (EJK), even stating that they are prohibiting EJK, and considering it illegal. 

The Acting Presidential Spokesperson assured that those committing EJK should be punished, and stated that there is a wheel of justice moving on even in the Department of Justice (DOJ) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Photo Credit: Facebook/knograles