After a relatively peaceful several months, the killings are back.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) recently restarted their anti-narcotics crackdown and on Wednesday, five people were killed in an anti-drug operation in Bulacan, a province north of Manila.
AFP reported that another 95 people were arrested in sting operations.
The five men that died have not yet been identified.
According to government data, close to 4,000 people have died in anti-drug operations led by the police since Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs started in 2016.
Because of continuous criticisms on the crackdown, Duterte removed the PNP as head of anti-drug operations, effectively suspending the drug war, twice in 2017. The first time was in January and the second in October. But the president eventually brought it back just a month after in both instances.
The government maintains that police are only allowed to shoot drug suspects in self-defense but in November, CCTV videos made public by a Reuters report showed how police killed three supposedly unarmed men in Manila.
Killings were also rampant in Bulacan when at least 30 people were killed in 24 hours during an overnight drug sweep in August.
