MANILA, Philippines โ More than three years after Rodrigo Duterte stepped down, the bloody legacy of his โwar on drugsโ continues to shape Philippine politics, policing, and the lives of thousands of grieving families.
A new VICE documentary โ โThe Worldโs Deadliest Drug War Just Got a New Leaderโ โ revisits the Duterte years and examines how the campaign that killed thousands has evolved under President Ferdinand โBongbongโ Marcos Jr., son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
While the documentary frames the drug war as entering a new chapter, human rights advocates say the core problems remain: structural violence, impunity, and a justice system that still struggles to reckon with the past.
A war that promised safety but delivered fear
Duterte launched his anti-illegal drugs campaign with a vow to eliminate crime by killing suspected pushers and users.
Police data listed more than 6,000 killed in operations during his term, though human rights groups estimate the death toll to be as high as 30,000 โ many of them urban poor.
VICEโs documentary underscores what communities have repeatedly said: the drug war neither dismantled drug syndicates nor curbed addiction.
Instead, it normalized extrajudicial killings, traumatized communities, and left widows, orphans, and parents mourning loved ones who never saw a courtroom.
Marcos promises a โbloodlessโ approach โ but realities on the ground say otherwise
At the start of his term, Marcos vowed a โbloodlessโ drug campaign focused on rehabilitation, not killings. In speeches and press briefings, he distanced himself from Duterteโs brutal methods, saying that โexterminationโ was never, and should never be, policy.
Yet rights groups monitoring police operations say the shift is more cosmetic than transformative. Anti-drug raids continue, arrests have increased, and killings โ though fewer than during Duterteโs peak years โ persist. Activists argue this reveals continuity rather than reform.
VICEโs report points out that the drug war remains largely under police control, with minimal oversight and weak accountability mechanisms. Community groups say poor Filipinos still bear the brunt of enforcement-first strategies.
Justice remains elusive as the ICC tightens its net
Duterteโs drug war is now the subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation.
In early 2025, the former president was surrendered to ICC custody after a warrant was issued for crimes against humanity. In a video message released shortly after, Duterte said he took responsibility for the operations conducted under his watch โ a rare admission from a leader who once bragged about personally killing suspects.
Marcos, however, maintains that the Philippines will not cooperate with the ICC probe, insisting that domestic institutions can handle accountability. Human rights groups argue the opposite: that the justice system has failed victims for nearly a decade.
The result is a stalemate โ one where families wait, courts defer, and the state shields itself from international scrutiny.
A drug war without direction
Experts interviewed in the VICE documentary describe Marcosโs drug strategy as โan inherited war without a clear vision.โ While the President speaks of prevention and rehabilitation, budget allocations and police protocols still tilt heavily toward enforcement.
This leaves the Philippines in a dangerous limbo: the rhetoric has softened, but the machinery that enabled past abuses remains intact.
The poor continue to suffer
Much of the violence under the drug war happened in informal settlements and low-income neighborhoods. For these communities, little has changed.
Police operations are still frequent. Many drug dependents lack access to community-based rehabilitation. F
And fear remains embedded in daily life, especially for families who lost loved ones under Duterte.
The documentary features families who, years later, still demand answers โ and dignity โ from a system that has failed them.
What comes next?
The drug warโs future depends on the Marcos administrationโs willingness to dismantle Duterte-era policies enabling violence; cooperate with independent investigations; shift resources to public health approaches; and ensure police transparency and civilian oversight.
Without these, analysts warn the Philippines risks being trapped in a recycled, rebranded version of the same violent campaign โ one that destroys lives but never solves the problem it claims to fight.
Marcos may speak of a โbloodlessโ drug war. At least, for now.
But as VICEโs latest documentary shows, for many Filipinos, the blood has long dried โ and the wounds remain open.
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