MANILA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) vowed on Thursday to back the ongoing war on drugs waged by President Rodrigo Duterte.
PDEA, the leading agency of the government's war on illegal drugs, stressed the need to "reassess" and "recalibrate" the government's war on drugs in the wake of Duterte's statement that drug users in the country have increased to 7 to 8 million.
"We need to reassess and recalibrate all (our) actions because this will incorporate rehabilitation, and not just pure law enforcement," PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon told reporters Thursday during a briefing on the war on drugs.
So far, the PNP and PDEA said 1,081 villages all over the country have been cleared of illegal drugs.
Duterte ran on a campaign promise to end the drug menace in three to six months after he assumed the presidency on June 30, 2016. He extended the campaign after failing to meet the deadline due to the gravity of the problem.
Duterte recently said he intends to end the country's drug problem by the time he steps down in 2022.
The president warned last week that his anti-drug campaign would be "harsher in the days to come."
Since Duterte launched the war on drugs in 2016, the PNP and PDEA said 5,176 drug suspects have been killed as of Jan. 31, 2019.
