The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday claimed that the government’s war against illegal drugs has contributed to the drop in murder cases in the first semester of the year.
The latest statistics based on the PNP’s Crime and Research Analysis Center under the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) showed a 7.98-percent drop in murder cases from January to August this year, compared to the same period in 2016.
The new figures came after the Human Rights Watch and a group of European parliamentarians warned the Philippines against sanctions from the United Nations and the European Union if the government fails to stop the killings of drug suspects and allow an independent investigation of President Duterte’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs.
The PNP itself has said that 3,800 to 4,000 drug suspects were killed since last year but these were a result of a shootout with policemen conducting “legitimate operations.”
There is no telling the exact number of fatalities in the administration’s war against illegal drugs, President Duterte’s almost single-minded agenda.
13,000 deaths
Various human rights organizations and the media have pegged the death toll at around 13,000, a tally that includes killings allegedly by vigilante groups and policemen themselves.
DIDM Director Augusto Marquez Jr. said in a statement that there were 6,945 murder cases from January to August last year compared to the 6,391 murder cases recorded in the same period this year.
“The DIDM director also said murder incidents nationwide went down due to PNP’s intensified campaigns and focused actions against criminality, corruption and illegal drugs,” the statement read.
The statement also said that murder has accumulated 8.41 percent of the total of Index Crime Distribution covering January to August 2017.
PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa had slammed critics of the drug war for being “ingrates” because they also benefited from what he claimed was the restoration of peace and order in the streets.
Dela Rosa last week earned a rebuke from Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, an ally of Mr. Duterte, who said the large number of unsolved “deaths under investigation” is unacceptable.