Duterte's war on drugs
President Rodrigo Duterte launches a violent anti-drug campaign in which thousands of suspected users and dealers are killed by police and unidentified gunmen; in 2025 he is arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.
- "License to Kill": Philippine Police Killings in Duterte's "War on Drugs" — Human Rights Watch (2017)
- Situation in the Philippines: The Prosecutor v. Rodrigo Roa Duterte — International Criminal Court (2025)
- State and Society in the Philippines — Patricio N. Abinales and Donna J. Amoroso, Rowman & Littlefield (2017)
Rodrigo Duterte, the long-time mayor of Davao City in Mindanao, won the presidency in 2016 promising to wipe out drugs and crime, sometimes in openly violent language. Once in office, police launched mass operations against suspected drug users and pushers in poor neighbourhoods, while unidentified gunmen killed many more.
- "License to Kill": Philippine Police Killings in Duterte's "War on Drugs" — Human Rights Watch (2017)
- "License to Kill": Philippine Police Killings in Duterte's "War on Drugs" — Human Rights Watch (2017)
- Situation in the Philippines: The Prosecutor v. Rodrigo Roa Duterte — International Criminal Court (2025)
The Philippines withdrew from the International Criminal Court in 2019 after its prosecutor began a preliminary examination, but the court ruled it still had jurisdiction over crimes committed while the country was a member. On 11 March 2025 Duterte was arrested in Manila on an ICC warrant for crimes against humanity and flown to The Hague, the first former Asian head of state to face the court.
- Situation in the Philippines: The Prosecutor v. Rodrigo Roa Duterte — International Criminal Court (2025)
Duterte kept his promise to fight drugs and crime that had made neighbourhoods unsafe and that previous elites ignored. Those killed resisted arrest, and the ICC case is foreign interference, pursued after the Philippines had left the court.
- "License to Kill": Philippine Police Killings in Duterte's "War on Drugs" — Human Rights Watch (2017)
- Situation in the Philippines: The Prosecutor v. Rodrigo Roa Duterte — International Criminal Court (2025)
Police and vigilantes killed thousands of poor people without trial, often planting evidence, and few were ever convicted. Rights groups estimate the true toll is far higher than the official count. Accountability, at home or at the ICC, is essential.
- "License to Kill": Philippine Police Killings in Duterte's "War on Drugs" — Human Rights Watch (2017)
- Situation in the Philippines: The Prosecutor v. Rodrigo Roa Duterte — International Criminal Court (2025)
Why it matters today
The drug war divides Filipinos sharply. Polls showed many supported it and Duterte remained highly popular, especially in Mindanao and among those who felt neglected by Manila's elite. Families of the dead, the Church and human rights groups see it as mass murder of the poor. His arrest in 2025 split the country again.