A few weeks after the controversial crime drama ‘Drug War: A Conspiracy of Silence’ was pulled from YouTube, its preferred platform for the six-part miniseries, it came back stronger, earning several recognitions from the Singapore-based Asian Academy Creative Awards 2026.
‘Drug War,’ which is set to return to the platform for its sixth and last episode this week, just took home three of the four recognitions: Best Screenplay (director Shugo Praico and Jonathan Guillermo); Best Cinematography (Moises M.M. Zee); and, Best Editing (Lawrence S. Ang).
Also from the same showrunners, another crime drama ‘Salvageland,’ directed by Lino Cayetano, also won big in the same awards, bagging the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Mon Confiado.
Both ‘Drug War’ and ‘Salvageland’ will represent the Philippines to the international round for the Grand Final Award.
‘These recognitions inspire us to stay true to Rein Entertainment’s mission: to push boundaries, explore fresh perspectives, discover unexpected worlds, and tell bolder Filipino stories that deserve a place on the global stage.’ said Praico, Rein Entertainment’s president and head of creatives.
The recognition came as ‘Drug War’ is set to release its final episode this week, after encountering a delay from its original Sept. 3 premiere schedule on Rein Entertainment’s YouTube channel.
On top of this, Episodes 1 to 4 were summarily removed from the platform without due notice, and with no assurance of whether it would be restored.
INQUIRER Entertainment had tried to get a statement from showrunners regarding this, but they declined to give a comment at that time. The show eventually returned on YouTube recently.
Set against the Philippines’ deadly and deeply polarizing war on drugs, the series follows a priest (Ian Veneracion) and a conscience-stricken policewoman (Jane Oineza) as they investigate the death of his former protégé (Harvey Bautista) that unravels into a wider conspiracy of killings, silenced witnesses, and erased evidence. The series has drawn millions of views on YouTube.