PNP spokersperson Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos. Photo by Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net
THE REPORT by the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) about an unnamed female gun-for-hire allegedly contracted by a police officer to kill drug pushers in Manila as part of the administration’s “war on drugs” was nothing but an “unverified” story—unless proven otherwise, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Friday.
“Our question is: How do verify that this is really an assassin? Is the whole story verified? Were the BBC shown evidence [she] already killed five people? It’s so easy to make up a story,” PNP spokersperson Senior Supt. Dionardo Carlos told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
“The story said she’s a gun-for-hire, allegedly hired by a police officer. We can’t say whether that really happened or not because it hasn’t been verified. If they could tell us this is a verified story—give us the names of the hits, give us the name of the police contacts, then we can verify if that is true or not,” Carlos added.
BBC had not requested an interview with the PNP in line with the story, Carlos said.
PNP Chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said during Thursday’s Senate hearing on the spate of “drug killings” that as of Aug. 31, the PNP has officially tallied 929 suspects killed in police antinarcotics operations since July 1.
But the tally for drugs suspects killed by unidentified gunmen—usually marked by cardboard signages identifying them as drugs personalities—tend to be more indeterminate, precisely because the perpetrators and their motives are officially unknown.
“These are all deaths under investigation. Until the investigation will point that this is a vigilante killing, all of these are cases of murder and homicide. To put another label on it, it must comply with the parameters as to how we can label them extrajudicial killing, vigilante killing, or summary killing,” Carlos pointed out.