The war on drugs, with its extrajudicial killings during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has led to more murders, leaders of the quadruple House panel said, disputing its claim that crime was on the rise under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Quad committee co-chairman and Sta. Rep. Rosa Danilo Fernandez said data from the Philippine National Police (PNP) disproved the former president’s claim.

The PNP, Fernandez added, noted that indexed crimes between July 1, 2022 and July 28, 2024 dropped nearly 62 percent to 83,059 from 217,830 in the first two years of Duterte’s term as president.

Quad committee co-chairman and Sta. Rosa Rep. Danilo Fernandez. Photo from the Facebook page of the Philippine House of Representatives

Cases of murder, manslaughter, bodily harm and rape fell by 55.69 percent, while the number of cases of robbery, theft, car theft and other property crimes fell by 66.81 to 41,420 from 124,799 in the same comparative periods, Fernandez said.

Fernandez also noted that the crime suppression efficiency increased by 27.13 percent, while the crime solving efficiency rate increased by 10.28 percent.

“We were fooled (by the former administration),” Fernandez said.

Senior Quad Committee Chairman and Surigao del Sur Representative Robert Ace Barbers said the PNP reported drug seizures worth P35.6 billion and arrested 122,309 drug suspects.

Both men agreed that the Marcos administration’s campaign against illegal drugs, unlike its predecessor, was relatively bloodless.

“The current national leadership values ​​and respects the sanctity of life,” Barbers added.

Fernandez said the current administration’s drug war is not likely to provoke anger, resentment and a desire for revenge from the people because it “focuses on catching suspects and rehabilitating them instead of ‘neutralizing’ them.”

Barbers believed that the former president’s war on drugs has created more crime instead of reducing it because the families of the victims may seek revenge against those who committed it.

Meanwhile, Barbers said they will take note of the former president’s testimony to the Senate blue-ribbon subcommittee and confirm them once he testifies before the House panel.

He said they will send invitations to everyone, including the former president, for the next hearing on November 7.

Barbers also said they will ask Duterte to control his use of foul language when he testifies before the panel, but he said he could not say whether he would cite the former president for contempt if he has a back-and-forth he did- o with Senator Risa Hontiveros, who called him out for using expletives in the Senate.

“We’ll cross the bridge when we get there,” Barbers said. “Like I said, if we invite him, we’ll give him all the courtesy he deserves.”

Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos defended Duterte’s war on drugs, saying it was necessary at the time because the drug menace had already corrupted some members of the judiciary, the military establishment and the police force.

The senator said in an interview “PrimeTimes with Atty. Lia” that young children and women in her province, Ilocos Norte, were being recruited by drug syndicates to sell drugs.

Marcos said she witnessed the ill effects of illegal drugs when she was governor of Ilocos Norte. She also noted that some judges and generals denied the proliferation of drugs in the province.

“I’m so helpless and angry and I felt like I was being enlightened by the (concerned) officials in Manila who said it’s not happening. The generals said everything is fine,” she said in Filipino and English.

“What do you mean, is it okay? We had a high rate of teenage suicide due to (use of) drugs. They were children of OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers). Despite my gratitude and friendship with President Duterte, the war on drugs was indeed necessary,” Marcos emphasized.

“Therefore, we felt that drastic measures had to be put in place. But I’m not saying I agree with everything that happened (during the war on drugs), like the killings. I didn’t know what happened in other areas”, she said. said.

Also on Wednesday, Senator Ronald Dela Rosa said Dutere was “only joking” when he admitted under oath before the Senate that he had his own death squad when he was mayor of Davao City.

Dela Rosa, who oversaw Duterte’s bloody drug war as PNP chief, said the term “DDS” was a media creation and that he never found evidence of it operating in the city when he was police chief of Davao City.