PNP: Only 1 of 3 deaths related to illegal drugs

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Only about one-third of the more than 3,500 deaths being investigated by the Philippine National Police not resulting from police operations are drug-related.

Director General Ronald dela Rosa, the PNP chief, on Thursday said the national oversight committee headed by Director Benjamin Magalong, deputy chief for operations, studied one by one the circumstances of the 3,524 deaths recorded from July 1 to Nov. 30.

He said only 1,081 deaths were ruled as related to illegal drugs while the rest were common or ordinary murders and homicides.

Not related to drugs

“These 2,000 cases that are not drug related, they are not included in our war on drugs. They are the normal cases of murder, homicide, parricide, some committed by [motorcycle-riding] killers or whatever other crimes except drug-related crimes,” Dela Rosa said in a press conference at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Investigators found that the  motives for the killings were  personal, Dela Rosa said.

But there were many cases, where the killers were unknown, that had been made to appear drug-related, he said.

“These 1,000-plus murders are drug-related and all others are not. They are crimes [whose perpetrators] are only riding on our war on drugs or using guns for hire,” he said.

The PNP has categorized the 3,500 cases as “deaths under investigation” (DUIs) because the perpetrators and the circumstances of the killings are unknown or still being investigated.

Included in these cases are murders popularly known as “extrajudicial killings,” which are committed by hired killers but which the police refuse to classify immediately as drug-related.

Dela Rosa said police investigators eventually determined which murders were drug-related and which were not.

“If, for example, you steal my girlfriend and I get angry with you and kill you. Then I put a cardboard box beside your corpse saying ‘Don’t be like me, I’m a drug pusher.’ Your case will not be drug-related because you are neither a drug pusher nor a drug user,” he explained.

Based on the latest PNP data, the 3,524 DUIs as of Nov. 30 had a total of 3,841 victims.  The police filed charges in 747 cases. In 474 cases, 747 suspects have been arrested. In 273 cases, the suspects remain at large.