The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are the military forces of the Philippines. It consists of three main service branches; the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy. The President of the Philippines is the Commander-in-Chief of the AFP and forms military policy with the Department of National Defense, an executive department acting as the principal organ by which military policy is carried out, while the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines serves as the overall commander and the highest-ranking officer in the AFP.
The Philippine National Police is the armed national police force in the Philippines. Its national headquarters is located at Camp Crame in Bagong Lipunan ng Crame, Quezon City. Currently, it has approximately 220,000 personnel to police a population in excess of 100 million.
Alfredo "Fred" Siojo Lim Jr. was a Filipino politician, police officer and lawyer who served as a Senator of the Philippines from 2004 to 2007. He also served as the 19th Mayor of Manila twice: first from 1992 to 1998, and again from 2007 to 2013.
Deodato Arellano y de la Cruz was a Filipino propagandist and the first president of the Katipunan, which was founded at his home in Azcarraga Street, Manila. He was first to be given the title Supremo by the Katipunan. After studying bookkeeping in Ateneo de Municipal de Manila, he became an assistant clerk for the Spanish military. He was a member of the Freemasonry in the Philippines and became involved in the Propaganda Movement.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency is the lead anti-drug law enforcement agency, responsible for preventing, investigating and combating any dangerous drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals within the Philippines. The agency is tasked with the enforcement of the penal and regulatory provisions of Republic Act No. 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The Bahala Na Gang (BNG) is a street gang founded in the Philippines which subsequently spread to the United States.
The prevalence of illegal drug use in the Philippines is lower than the global average, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed that the country could become a "narco-state". Two of the most used and valuable illegal drugs in the country are methamphetamine hydrochloride and marijuana. In 2012, the United Nations said the Philippines had the highest rate of methamphetamine use in East Asia, and according to a U.S. State Department report, 2.1 percent of Filipinos aged 16 to 64 use the drug based on 2008 figures by the Philippines Dangerous Drugs Board. As of 2016, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime report that 1.1 percent of Filipinos aged 10 to 69 use the drug. In Metro Manila, most barangays are affected by illegal drugs.
In the early morning hours of May 22, 2016, five people died after taking alleged illegal drugs during a rave dance party organized by Close-Up entitled Forever Summer, at the SM Mall of Asia concert grounds in Pasay, Philippines.
Vitaliano "Vit" Napeñas Aguirre II is a Filipino lawyer serving as a commissioner of the National Police Commission from January 11, 2021 to June 30, 2022. He previously served as Secretary of Justice under the Duterte administration from 2016 until his resignation in 2018, and vice president and chief legal counsel of Clark Development Corporation under former President Benigno Aquino III. He gained wide public attention in 2012 during the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona when he was cited for contempt after he was caught covering his ears while being lectured by the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.
The Philippine drug war, known as the War on Drugs, is the intensified anti-drug campaign of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who served office from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2022. The campaign reduced drug proliferation in the country, but has been marred by extrajudicial killings allegedly perpetrated by the police and unknown assailants. An estimated 7,742 civilians have been killed in "anti-drug operations" carried out by the government and its supporters between 2016 and 2021.
The New Bilibid Prison drug trafficking scandal is a criminal investigation and political scandal concerning allegations of government involvement in illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, Philippines. The allegations were made by President Rodrigo Duterte after announcing that the two top convicted drug lords in the country continued to run their drug rings from inside the national penitentiary with former administration officials and their local government cohorts as co-conspirators. On August 25, 2016, Duterte released a drug matrix showing the structure of drug trafficking operations at the New Bilibid Prison and identified the two former top officials of the Department of Justice, the former provincial governor and board member of Pangasinan, and the former Bureau of Corrections director as being involved in the Bilibid narcotics trade.
The cultivation and use of cannabis in the Philippines is illegal under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. As the Philippines is a signatory to the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, Cannabis is classified as a Schedule I drug, which limits its use to medical and scientific purposes. Marijuana is the second most used drug in the Philippines, after shabu (methamphetamine), and most cultivation in the country is for local consumption. Cannabis is cultivated mostly in the remote, mountainous regions of Luzon and Mindanao.
Ariel Oliva Querubin is a retired Philippine Marine Corps officer and a recipient of the Philippines' highest military award for courage, the Medal of Valor.
Amatz is a song by Filipino rapper Shanti Dope that was released under Universal Records on March 22, 2019. The word "Amatz" is a slang word for Tagalog “tama” or kick, which could refer to being drunk or high on drugs.
Ninja cops, or narco cops, is a term that was popularized at the height of the Philippine drug war, which began during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. It refers to a label used to refer to police personnel who are alleged to be involved in the illegal drug trade themselves by reselling portion of the contraband seized in anti drug operations.
The South Cotabato Rehabilitation and Detention Center is a prison located in South Cotabato province, Soccsksargen region, Mindanao, Philippines.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Jovie Espenido is a controversial Filipino police officer known as a crusader against illegal drugs.
On February 24, 2021, a botched buy-bust operation resulted in a shootout between units of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. The incident resulted in the deaths of two police officers, a PDEA agent and an informant. Both agencies claimed that they had been conducting a legitimate anti-drug operation.
On March 15, 2022, law enforcement agents intercepted three vans in Brgy. Comon, Infanta, Quezon, Philippines, seized ₱11 billion worth of illegal drugs. The operation was described as the "biggest drug haul in Philippine history".
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