More than 6,000 people died during the anti-illegal drug operations of President Rodrigo Duterte's administration, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director-General Wilkins Villanueva said on Tuesday.

This was reported by Villanueva during the second day of the Duterte Legacy Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City on Tuesday.

PDEA data showed that from July 1, 2016 to April 30, 2022 a total of 6,248 persons have died while 341,494 were arrested during the 236,620 anti -illegal drug operations nationwide.

"The war on drugs is unfoundedly blamed for unlawful deaths. However, these losses of lives were results of violent actions of drug pushers towards law enforcers during lawful arrests," said Villanueva.

"Taking human life was never the intent of anti-drug operations. Let us remember that on the side of law enforcement, pdea alone, also had its share of casualties," he added.

PDEA data said 11 of their personnel were killed while 34 others were wounded during the anti-illegal drug operations from July 1, 2016 to March 31, 2022.

Among the arrested suspects, 15,096 were considered as high value targets. They include 364 foreign nationals, 402 elected officials,126 uniformed personnel, and 529 government employees.

PDEA data also shows that P89.29 billion worth of illegal drugs, equipment and laboratories were seized during the past six years. It includes 11.8 kilograms of shabu amounting to P76.55 billion, 530.24 kgs of cocaine, 163,483 pieces of ecstasy and 10,462.21 kilograms of marijuana.

The PDEA also dismantled a total of 1,175 illegal-drug dens and clandestine laboratories, of which 1,156 are dens and 19 clandestine laboratories.

Despite criticism against the anti-illegal drug war of the government, Villanueva said only residents from the drug cleared communities can judge this.

"In my book, no one else but residents of drug-cleared communities make the best judge to tell precisely if the war on drugs is a success or not," he said.

The agency recorded a total of 25,061 drug cleared barangays from the total of 42,045 barangays in the country.

There were 6,574 barangays unaffected by illegal drug activities while 10,410 other barangays are yet to be cleared.

The government also rescued 4,372 minors aged 4 to 17, who were involved in illegal drug activities. From that total, pushers reached 2,623. Robina Asido/ DMS