Marcos touts 'bloodless' drug war, no 'extermination'

President Marcos yesterday trumpeted the gains of his crackdown on illegal drugs, saying billions of pesos worth of narcotics have been seized and thousands of offenders have been arrested without resorting to "extermination," in an apparent effort to contrast his style with that of his predecessor and critic Rodrigo Duterte.

- ALEXIS ROMERO

In his third State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos said more than P44 billion worth of narcotics have been confiscated and 97,000 drug personalities have been arrested in more than 71,500 operations under his "bloodless war on dangerous drugs."

"On the fight against dangerous drugs, our bloodless war on dangerous drugs adheres, and will continue to adhere, to the established eight Es of an effective anti-illegal drugs strategy. Extermination was never one of them," the President said.

Marcos was referring to the eight Es that make up the endgame in the Duterte administration's drug warengineering the structure, education, extraction of information, enforcement, enactment of laws, environment, economics and evaluation.

The end game also emphasizes the reinforcement, rehabilitation, recovery and wellness and reintegration of drug offenders who surrendered, according to the Philippine National Police.