Most people, especially those outside the country but also including people living here, seem to think “Duterte = war on drugs = killing people”. This is not true.

Duterte is not all about the War on Drugs. Yes he is pretty determined and focused on this, and is a top priority for him, but he has also done a lot of other great improvements to the country and has also tackled other problems. (Relations with the Muslim population, traffic, online gambling, etc)

This being said, “war on drugs =/= killing people only”.

People and most media often highlight “man killed in war on drugs”. Often the main points are just the negative effects, or the effects explained in a negative tone. What they don’t know is that:

After 6 months of the drug war, only 6000 have been killed
Most of these are the dangerous individuals of the community. They are the ones who will kill you for failing to pay up, failing to sell enough, trying to come clean and stop drugs, reporting them to authorities.. and even for just accidentally entering their illegal drug dens.
Most of these would rather shoot back at police and die fighting that surrender peacefully.
After 6 months of the drug war, more than 1 million have surrendered on their own and are currently getting the much needed rehabilitation they need. No other president has achieved this. (Palace: more than 1-M surrendered amid drug war)
If they can be disciplined and determined to stop, after a few months, they will be off their addiction and have a 2nd chance as a new clean life.
Just because someone was killed in the drug war does not automatically mean it is related in the drug war. A person could have been shot in a failed holdup attempt. A person could have been shot due to road rage. A person could have been shot because of unpaid debts.
Some of the killings are actually from the drug lords who want to silence pushers/buyers who want to surrender (and possible rat them out to police)
If your drug-using family member was accused of using drugs, most often you would plead to sympathy and insist that he/she is “a good responsible person who would never hurt anyone.”, that he/she is “someone who would never use drugs.” Even if it is not true.

The government has already taken hold of drug and non-drug evidence amounting to P8.21 billion, exceeding the value of drugs seized in the past 5 years.

Based from my readings, once a drug addict has been into it for some time now, it will be very, very difficult for him/her to get back to the normal state. It will take a lot of time, effort and money to rehabilitate the patient. And in some cases, relapse is common, because the environment of the patient is one of the 'cues' for relapse - it acts as a stimulus that is very hard to resist.

Duterte wasn’t my choice for president. But I admire what he has done and achieved as our elected president.

He has achieved many things, among those is the drug war, but not just the drug war itself.

LIST: Duterte admin's 2016 accomplishments