Top universities launch DrugArchive.ph

In a bid to provide better solutions to the country’s drug problem, the academe has launched DrugArchive.ph, a website that provides data and documents related to the government’s anti-drug campaign.

DrugArchive.ph is a collaboration of Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Columbia Journalism School’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Ateneo School of Government dean Ronald Mendoza said the archive aims to look at pieces of evidence pertaining to the drug war and how the government can improve its policies.

“In the absence of information and data or presence of data that we trust less or incomplete, data are put together as a form of check and balance so that we can look at that of the government and begin to ask tough questions,” he said in a press briefing.

Mendoza said they hope the data set would start discussions and help bring solutions that would change the narrative in terms of how the drug war is being implemented.

He added that the public should be “sensitized” on the data and help solve the problem instead of sowing further divisiveness on the administration’s policies.

Far Eastern University Institute of Law dean Mel Sta. Maria said the dimension and magnitude of the killings in the drug war has become so staggering and disturbing.

This has also evolved into fostering a culture of violence and non-adherence to the rule of law, which the academe is trying to undo, he said.

Former education secretary Armin Luistro did not mince words as he tagged President Duterte in the “killing policy” which has claimed the lives of thousands in the name of the drug war. He noted the patterns on the drug war, which has so far targeted the poor.

The research found that majority of the victims of the drug war were engaged in lowpaying and low-skilled work, including tricycle drivers, construction workers, jeepney drivers, and the like.

The National Capital Region led in the drug war deaths, accounting for 40 percent of the victims killed in the dataset, mostly through drug stings by the police. The researchers behind

DrugArchive.ph said the country needs to adhere to responsive anti-drug policies, which include health-based rehabilitation programs, and supply reduction initiatives, which are focused on high-value targets, among others.

–