53 killed by PNP since its return to drug war

NO SHOTS FIRED A daytime drug raid conducted by the police on Feb. 2 with media crews in tow seizes packets of “shabu” (crystal meth) and marijuana from a suspected drug peddler in Barangay Krus na Ligas, Quezon City —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

The Philippine National Police reported on Friday that 53 more suspected drug offenders have been killed over the past two months as the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) began a preliminary examination of a complaint of crimes against humanity against President Duterte in relation to his war on drugs.

PNP deputy spokesperson Vimellee Madrid said there would be no letup in the police antidrug campaign, which resumed last December after being suspended for a month because of the numerous charges of extrajudicial killings blamed on policemen.

6,523 arrested

“So long as we uphold the law we will continue,” she said. “So long as we uphold the law, we are not afraid of any investigating body to conduct an investigation.”

From Dec. 5, 2017—when the PNP was brought back to the drug war—until Feb. 8, police antinarcotics operatives arrested 6,523 drug personalities in 4,058 operations nationwide.

During those operations 53 suspected drug personalities were killed, most of them in buy-bust and warrant service operations, bringing to more than 4,000 the number of people killed by the police in the war on drugs.

The December-February fatality figure was small compared to the 929 killed during the first two months of the President’s campaign—from July 1 to Aug. 31, 2016.

The state-run Philippine Information Agency’s Real Numbers counted 3,987 drug personalities killed and over 119,000 arrested in 81,919 operations nationwide from July 1, 2016 to Jan. 17, 2018.

Real Numbers also showed there were 2,235 other drug-related killings during the same period, which human rights groups suspected were carried out by vigilantes.