In a televised speech on Thursday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed hopes that a shift to target big networks in his war on drugs would satisfy “bleeding hearts” and interfering Western states fixated on the high death toll in his brutal crackdown. Police disbanded all 18 regional anti-drugs units on Thursday. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the new aim was for the PDEA (Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration) to target “higher echelons of the syndicates, as well as their protectors in government”. Duterte has ordered police to halt activities in his deadly war on drugs and leave all operations to the PDEA, amid unprecedented scrutiny of police conduct.