623 dead in police ops vs illegal drugs from Jan to Aug 2020 – PNP

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) reported Thursday that 623 people were killed during anti-illegal drug operations conducted from January to August this year.

During the hearing of the House committee on appropriations on the budget proposal of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for 2021, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate asked recently-installed PNP chief Gen. Camilo Cascolan for updates regarding the country’s controversial war on drugs.

According to Cascolan, police anti-drug operations from January 1 to August 31, 2020, have collared 50,429 suspects while 2,213 surrendered to authorities. Another 623 individuals have died in the police operations, said the police chief.

Further, Cascolan reported that the police force has also seized illegal drugs amounting to P14.5 billion during the period.

Citing data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Carlos Conde, who serves as a researcher of Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asian Division, recently said that 155 people were killed in the Duterte administration’s anti-drug operations from April to July 2020 or during the lockdown.

Conde said this is almost 50 percent higher than the 103 deaths recorded from December 2019 to March 2020.

“Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte administration’s bloody ‘war on drugs’ worsened during the COVID-19 lockdown, according to the government’s own statistics,” Conde said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“Police killed 50 percent more people between April to July 2020 than they did in the previous four-month period,” he added.

READ: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1333532/drug-war-deaths-increased-worsened-during-lockdown-hrw-says