Police kill 5 in Bulacan as drug war heats up anew

Five drug suspects were killed in Bulacan province on Wednesday as police again ramped up a drug war that had drawn warnings that President Duterte might be overseeing a crime against humanity.

Police killed some 4,000 suspects in Mr. Duterte’s first 17 months in office as he followed through on his election campaign promise to eliminate illegal drugs in the country.

The latest killings occurred in Bulacan province, a frontline in the crackdown. Ninety-five others were arrested in dozens of sting operations, according to a provincial police report.

The five deaths in Bulacan equal the number of drug-related killings in the previous five weeks, according to official data.

The crackdown had stoked controversy. Rights groups allege corrupt police were killing defenseless people, fabricating evidence, paying assassins to murder drug addicts and stealing from those they kill.

A lawyer filed a suit in the International Criminal Court last year accusing Mr. Duterte of crimes against humanity, which the President rejected.

The President had taken out the police from the drug war twice, but on both occasions had brought them back to the drug war’s frontlines. —AFP