'Hunting me': Duterte has been arrested, but the Philippines' drug war isn't over yet
Former president Duterte's crackdown led to an ICC warrant and his arrest. But the ghosts of his drug war still haunt many Filipinos.
In Manila's densely populated shanty towns, 19-year-old Joan de Juan recalls her 10th birthday in December 2016. Her father, Constantino, worked three jobs to support their family of seven. On her birthday, they were celebrating together, enjoying music and dance. Suddenly, masked police officers forced Constantino to lie down and shot him.
Joan and her siblings were dragged away, while her father was fatally wounded. Joan's family is among the victims of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs, which allegedly resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings. Duterte, a three-time mayor of Davao City, led an aggressive anti-drug crackdown known as Oplan Tokhang, granting police shoot-to-kill orders.
Despite being arrested for alleged crimes against humanity and transferred to The Hague, Duterte is still a popular figure in the Philippines. A 2025 survey found 63 percent of Filipinos still trust the ex-president, and many supporters demonstrated in Manila, calling for the return of his anti-drug crackdown.
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