Over 1900 killed in ‘chilling’ Philippines war on drugs

Tree says it’s possible some of the killings attributed to vigilantes may have been committed by police, but “police have been reporting their kill counts – they haven’t been embarrassed about it, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t report more of them”.

More than 1,800 people have died in police-related killings and unsolved slayings often attributed to vigilantes since Duterte took office in late June, according to police statistics.

The officers are also accused of protecting the syndicates involved in the production and distribution of narcotics. Duterte also has been urging police to shoot drug suspects who resist arrest.

Another senator, Antonio Trillanes IV, asked dela Rosa why the police have failed to stop the killings by suspected anticrime vigilantes, including motorcycle-riding gunmen.

Agnes Callamard, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions, issued a statement last week strongly condemning the extrajudicial deaths in the government drug crackdown.

According to the newspaper’s “kill list”, there have been 712 drug-related killings since May 10, the day after Duterte was elected.

Other countries, including the United States and European Union members, should make it clear to Duterte that inciting such violence is unacceptable and will reap potentially severe diplomatic and economic costs, beyond the human one.

“We are not butchers” he declared at Tuesday’s congregation.

And these shocking images come only days after the United Nations called the leader to end the killings.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte shakes hands with visiting Secretary of State John Kerry in Manila on July 27, 2016.

“As I was presenting yesterday there were people killed”, said. Traffic accidents have fallen more than 40 percent since the speed limit took effect in 2013.

PNP Director-General Ronald dela Rosa was unconcerned by the sharp rise, characterizing the killings as proof of an “uncompromising” police approach to drug crimes.

Duterte threatened to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations after the UN released statements criticising his anti-drug campaign.

Sen. Leila de Lima, who heads the Senate committee leading the investigation, said she was anxious about the widespread killings, and that law enforcers and vigilantes may be using the crackdown “to commit murder with impunity”. “I’m going to send my rapporteur also and investigate them”. Murders and homicides, however, increased.

According to The Huffington Post, black males in the U.S. between the ages of 15 and 34 are 9 times more likely to be killed by police than any other demographic.

Region 4-A or Calabarzon, had 3,011 drug-affected barangays, or 75% of the 1,007 villages, while in Region 3, or Central Luzon, only 21%, or 656 barangays, are drug-free as opposed to 2,446 affected villages, Mr. dela Rosa added.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Arbella also confirmed that Duterte did not have any real intention of leaving the United Nations, arguing that he was merely “reiterating national sovereignty and the fact that he did not welcome interventions or what he would consider meddling”.