Looking back: Day 1, Year 1 of the antidrug campaign

TWO YEARS ago, on the first day of the Duterte presidency, 39 people were slain in drug-related killings. These were the opening salvo of the new government’s antidrug campaign.

The killings on Day One of the new administration would presage the scale and nature of those that followed. The death toll that day would be surpassed only five other times, according to a study by the Ateneo School of Government study published on drugarchive. ph. The number of daily killings peaked at 49 on Sept. 21, 2016, and Aug. 15, 2017.

Duterte was sworn in as president at Rizal Park at noon on June 30, 2016. The spate of killings began midnight that very day, with drug suspects slain in simultaneous buy-bust operations and raids on drug dens and homes. The police say all these killings were in self-defense and the result of violent resistance from alleged drug dealers. While there were 168 drug-related killings in the six weeks between May 9, Election Day, and June 30, the numbers rose once the long-time mayor of Davao City assumed the presidency.

“Do your duty,” Duterte told the police on July 1, his first day in office, “and if in the process you kill 1,000 persons because you were doing duty and I will protect you.”

Bulacan topped the number of killings, netting more than a dozen drug suspects killed between midnight of June 30 and noon of July 1, according to news reports collected by drugarchive.ph researchers. By afternoon, there were 16 dead in Bulacan.

Questioned by reporters, PSSupt. Rogelio Caramat, Jr., then the Bulacan police chief, said the killings were not done to impress Dir. Ronald dela Rosa, the new head of the Philippine National Police. He also said his men followed police operating procedures and fired only when police lives were in danger.

“No other than our new president Rodrigo Duterte has assured the policemen that he will back up the police if they do their job,” he told reporters. “Kung ganun

ang commander mo, talagang maha- high morale ka (If you have a commander like that, then your morale will be boosted).”

The Ateneo study reveals the asymmetrical nature of the antidrug campaign. The data shows 11 police officers were killed while conducting antidrug operations between May 2016 and September 2017. In contrast, there were over 2,700 drug suspects killed in police operations during that period. —