LAST Tuesday, 5.69 kilograms (kg) of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) with a street value of P38.8 million were seized at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s (NAIA) Central Mail Exchange Center.
The three parcels of the illegal substance were shipped from Canada, Pakistan and Zambia, and were consigned to a Filipino and two foreigners, police said.
It was the biggest shabu confiscation this year. In the first two days of April alone, authorities have already recovered 120 kg of shabu worth P816 million in Calapan port in Mindoro, and P6.8 million in shabu and laboratory equipment in Puerto Galera.
In the first quarter of this year, P11 billion in illegal drugs were seized, the National Bureau of Investigation said.
The figures suggest a “continued, high volume and coordinated effort” by international drug syndicates to bring shabu into the country. That could only mean that a shabu market flourishes despite intensified government efforts to shut it down.
To complicate matters, drug traffickers have shifted strategies, and now move their contraband through major ports like the NAIA and the Manila International Container Port.
They have also focused their operations in Metro Manila and Region IV-A (Calabarzon), and in Mindanao.
In its 2025 World Drug Report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime noted that seizures of amphetamines and methamphetamines hit a record high in 2023, accounting for almost half of all global confiscations of synthetic drugs.
Shabu found its way into the Philippines in the mid-1980s, its popularity confined among the “fringe literati, the burgis, the artists and entertainment circle, far removed from the masa and rural culture...” wrote Dr. Godofredo Stuart in a 2014 article, “Methamphetamine.”
In less than two decades, “it has broken out of the urban subcultures and gained access into the rural communities with devastating impact,” Stuart added.
In 2016, then-president Rodrigo Duterte launched a crusade to once and for all rid the country of illegal drugs, but it became embroiled in controversy because of the thousands of extrajudicial killings that it spawned.
Drug trafficking did drop drastically during the Duterte years, but has since been slowly making a comeback.
The Asean 2023 Drug Monitoring Report noted significant increases in drug seizures in the region from 2017 to 2020, particularly in 2018 and 2020.
“These peaks indicate substantial efforts by law enforcement agencies to intercept large quantities of illicit drugs, possibly through improved intelligence, international cooperation or primary operations against trafficking networks,” the Asean said.
The level of drug seizures was at its highest in 2022, underscoring “the scale of drug production and trafficking activities during this period. The level dropped in 2023, suggesting “a temporary decrease in activities, successful disruption of significant supply chains or shifts in trafficking methods to evade detection.”
The number of traffickers from Asia peaked in 2020, decreasing slightly in 2021. “The rising trend indicates that Asia remains a significant source of activity. The peak in 2020 may be linked to increased production and distribution of synthetic drugs, particularly in countries with established manufacturing capabilities.”
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said the campaign against drugs continues, but minus the bloodbath. “We must continue with the war against drugs. But we do it in a peaceful way... It has been described as a bloodless war on drugs, and that is what we are aiming for.”
He said the drug confiscations under his watch choked the circulation of the drugs on the streets, sparing countless Filipinos from addiction and its devastating consequences.
“In the last three years, we have been able to interdict P62 billion worth of methamphetamine, which is the largest considering the time that we are putting it under just three years,” the president said.
But cracking down on drug syndicates cannot be a one-country effort. It requires regional and international cooperation, investing in intelligence and technology, and putting in place comprehensive strategies addressing both supply and demand.
As the Asean chairman this year, the Philippines is in a position to take the lead in building the framework for a combined, coordinated approach to combat shabu trafficking, supported by international partners, to create a safer, drug-free region.
