Palace questions drug war study findings

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

Malacañang questioned on Tuesday the study released by the Ateneo School of Government claiming that the poor are the most vulnerable in the government’s war on drugs.

The study showed that there were 5,021 drug war deaths, with 2,753 killed in legitimate police operations, 1,907 killed by unknown assailants, and 335 found dead.

The data culled and analyzed from media reports from May 10, 2016 to September 29, 2017 showed victims of the bloody drug war were mostly poor and shot dead in an alleged exchange of fire with police during a drug bust.

READ: Drug war study sees relation between media presence and death toll

“Hindi ko po talaga ikukuwestyun na talagang mahihirap ang mga napapatay ‘no. Pero ang kuwestyun dito is: talaga ba silang napatay dahil sa war on drugs?” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Radio DZMM interview.

(I won’t question that the poor are the ones killed. But what I’m questioning is: were they really killed because of the war on drugs?)

“Iyon po ang hindi naman tiningnan ng study na ito; tinanggap lang nila na ito diumano iyong mga napatay, pero ang mas maganda sanang ginawa ng mga dalubhasa ay iniisa-isa,” he added.

(That is what the study did not look into; they just accepted that these people were killed, but it’s better if the experts looked into them one by one.)

The government, he said, was still in the process of verifying the cause of recent homicide cases.

Police data showed that there are 23,327 homicide cases under investigation from July 1, 2016 to June 4, 2018. /je