MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippines’ approach to its illegal drug problem “has changed significantly,” nearly two years after he took the reins from Rodrigo Duterte, whose anti-narcotics campaign was marked by thousands of deaths and international disapproval.

Marcos zeroed in on the subject after he was asked by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about his administration’s efforts to address the drug menace, according to a report from state-run Philippine News Agency.

He claimed that the Philippine National Police has been reorganized, and that some erring cops have been put behind bars.

“It’s a big problem, but our approach has changed significantly,” Marcos told Scholz during their meeting in Berlin on Tuesday, March 12.

“I am diametrically opposed to handling the drug problem in that way, by confrontation, by violence,” he added. “It really requires so much deeper understanding on the problem and the much deeper solution. So, yes, I think that we are also progressing when it comes to that.”

The Duterte administration logged 6,252 individuals killed in police operations under its drug war. Human rights groups, however, put the number at up to 30,000, including victims of vigilante-style killings.

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Drug-related killings, however, did not go to a complete halt under the Marcos administration.

The Dahas project of the UP Third World Studies Center said it has monitored at least 342 drug-related killings in the first year of the Marcos presidency, including 115 killed during anti-illegal drug operations by state agents.

Shadow of ICC

The human rights abuses under Marcos’ predecessor was widely condemned by the international community.

Germany was, in fact, among the many countries that flagged Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign during its peak.

Duterte is also being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the bloody drug war, but Marcos, for the most part, has said his administration will not cooperate with the probe.

He reiterated this during his meeting with Scholz, who asked about the status of the tribunal’s investigation.

“It’s really a question of jurisdiction and we have our own investigations and we’re capable of conducting our own investigations and, so we are, we are continuing to do so,” President Marcos told Scholz, according to a press release from Malacañang.

“But as a matter of principle, it is very difficult for the Philippines to accept that an outside court will, shall I say, dictate to our policemen, ‘who they will investigate, who they will arrest and who will say, that hey, because we don’t need that advice’,” he added. 

Marcos won the presidency in 2022 with Mr. Duterte’s daughter – Vice President Sara Duterte – as his running mate. The two political families have deep ties that bind, although the relationship between the former president and his successor has taken a turn for the worse in recent months.

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Critics say the Marcos administration’s continued disengagement from the ICC highlights his doublespeak on human rights. – Rappler.com