President Rodrigo 'The Punisher' Duterte has a controversial, deadly take on stamping out drug crimes in the Philippines.

Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte. Picture: AFP Photo/Noel Celis

LAUNCHED a year ago, Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes brutal war on drugs has resulted in thousands of deaths, yet the street price of crystal methamphetamine in Manila has fallen and surveys show Filipinos are as anxious as ever about crime.

Duterte took power on June 30 last year, vowing to halt the drug abuse and lawlessness he saw as symptoms of virulent social disease.

Thanks to his campaign, government officials say, crime has dropped, thousands of drug dealers are behind bars, a million users have registered for treatment, and future generations of Filipinos are being protected from the scourge of drugs.

There are thousands of people who are being killed, yes, said Oscar Albayalde, Metro Manilas police chief told Reuters. But there are millions who live, see?

A growing chorus of critics, however, including human rights activists, lawyers and the countrys influential Catholic Church, dispute the authorities claims of success.

They say police have summarily executed drug suspects with impunity, terrorising poorer communities and exacerbating the very lawlessness they were meant to tackle.

This president behaves as if he is above the law that he is the law, wrote Amado Picardal, an outspoken Filipino priest, in a recent article for a Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines publication. He has ignored the rule of law and human rights.

The drug wars exact death toll is hotly disputed, with critics saying the toll is far above the 5,000 that police have identified as either drug-related killings, or suspects shot dead during police operations.

Most victims are small-time users and dealers, while the masterminds behind the lucrative drug trade are largely unknown and at large, say critics of Dutertes ruthless methods.

If the strategy was working the laws of economics suggest the price of crystal meth, the highly addictive drug also known as shabu, should be rising as less supply hits the streets.

But the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agencys own data suggests shabu has become even cheaper in Manila.

Drug suspects are rounded up during an anti-illegal drugs operation at an informal settlers community at the Manila Islamic Center in Manila on October 7, 2016. Picture: AFP Photo/Noel CelisSource:AFP

Shanty dwellers living inside the cemetery look at bodies being buried on January 24, 2017 in Manila, Philippines. Many bodies of victims of extrajudicial killings lay unclaimed in a morgue as funerals have had to deal with an upsurge in fatalities from the drug war. Picture: Getty Images/Dondi TawataoSource:Getty Images

In July 2016, a gram of shabu cost 1,200-11,000 pesos (A$88-$800), according to agencys figures. Last month, a gram cost 1,000-15,000 pesos ($73-$1100), it said.

The wide ranges reflect swings in availability and sharp regional variations. Officials say Manilas street prices are at the lowest end of the range. And that has come down, albeit by just a few dollars.

If prices have fallen, its an indication that enforcement actions have not been effective, said Gloria Lai of the International Drug Policy Consortium, a global network of non-governmental groups focused on narcotics.

The problem is, according to Derrick Carreon, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agencys spokesman, that while nine domestic drug labs have been busted, shabu smuggled in from overseas has filled the market gap.

Demand needs to be addressed because there are still drug smugglers, Carreon said.

While smuggled shabu has kept the price down in the capital, the official data shows the price has gone up in the already substantially more expensive far-flung regions, like the insurgency-racked southern island of Mindanao.

Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao last month after militants inspired by Islamic State stormed Marawi City, and the armys failure to retake the city quickly has dented the presidents image as a law-and-order president.

A woman hugs her husband, next to a placard which reads, I'm a pusher, who was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in Manila on July 23, 2016. Picture: AFP Photo/Noel CelisSource:AFP

An alleged drug dealer and victim of a summary execution lies dead on a main thoroughfare on July 23, 2016 in Manila, Philippines. The victim was an alleged drug peddler, a claim disputed by his wife. Picture: Getty Images/Dondi TawataoSource:Getty Images

AFRAID OF THE DARK

Surveys by Social Weather Stations (SWS), a leading Manila pollster, reveal a public broadly supportive of Dutertes anti-drug campaign, but troubled by its methods and dubious about its effectiveness.

SWS surveys in each of the first three quarters of Dutertes rule showed a very high satisfaction with the anti-drug campaign, said Leo Laroza, a senior SWS researcher.

In the most recent survey, published on April, 92 per cent said it was important that drug suspects be captured alive.

Respondents also reported a 6.3 per cent rise in street robberies and break-ins. More than half of those polled said they were afraid to venture out at night, a proportion that had barely changed since the drug war began, said Laroza.

People still have this fear when it comes to their neighbourhoods, he said. It has not gone down.

Public and police perceptions of crime levels seem to diverge.

The number of crimes committed in the first nine months of Dutertes rule has dropped by 30 per cent, according to police statistics cited by the presidents communications team.

Albayalde, the capitals police chief, said people, particularly in Manila, felt safer now, especially due to a crackdown on drug users who he said commit most of the crime.

In the first 11 months of Dutertes rule, police say 3,155 suspects were shot dead in anti-drug operations. Critics maintain that many of them were summarily executed.

Police say they have investigated a further 2,000 drug-related killings, and have yet to identify a motive in at least another 7,000 murders and homicides.

Human rights monitors believe many of these victims were killed by undercover police or their paid vigilantes, a charge the police deny.

For residents of Navotas fishport, a warren of shacks near Manilas docks, the body count is too high. There were nine killings in a single night in Navotas earlier this month, according to local media.

In mid-May, said resident Mary Joy Royo, a dozen gunmen arrived on motorbikes and abducted her mother and stepfather. Their corpses were found later with execution-style gunshots to the head and torso.

They should be targeting the drug lords, Royo told Reuters. The victims of the drug war are the poor people.

The dead body of Valien Mendoza, a suspected drug dealer, gunned down by unidentified assailants in Manila. Picture: AFP Photo/Noel CelisSource:AFP

Maria Espinosa crying outside the funeral parlour where the body of her dead 16-year-old son, Sonny Espinosa, was taken in Manila. Picture: AFP Photo/Noel CelisSource:AFP

RIPPLE EFFECT

As the death toll has risen, so has domestic and international outrage.

In October, the Hague-based International Criminal Court said it could investigate the killings if they were committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.

Police operations were halted for much of February after it emerged that anti-drug police abducted and killed a South Korean businessman last year, but the outcry over the rising body count has rarely slowed the killing or led to prosecutions.

The Philippine Commission on Human Rights is investigating 680 drug-war killings.

In this country the basic problem is impunity, Chito Gascon, the commissions chairman, said. No one is ever held to account for the worst violations. Ever.

Police chief Albayalde says that the forces Internal Affairs Service (IAS) investigates all allegations of abuse by his officers.

We do not tolerate senseless killings, he said. We do not just kill anybody.

IAS told Reuters it had investigated 1,912 drug-related cases and recommended 159 officers for dismissal due to misconduct during anti-drug operations, although it didnt know whether any had yet been dismissed.

Earlier this month, 19 police officers charged with murdering two drug suspects in their jail cell in November were released on bail and now face trial for the lesser crime of homicide.

Duterte, who has repeatedly urged police to kill drug suspects, had already vowed to pardon the officers if they were convicted.

You have a head of state who says, Kill, kill, kill, a head of state who says, Ive got your back, said CHRs Gascon. That has a ripple effect.

Marawi, on the southern island of Mindanao,has become the latest victim of Islamic State linked attacks beyond the Middle East. Since declaring martial law on the city, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has apologised for the military offensive that has left Marawi in ruins.

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One year on: Has the Punisher fixed the crime? - NEWS.com.au