RIGHT TO LIFE being inherent in the human person, the many believers in the sanctity of life are not likely to withdraw their call that suspected users of illegal drugs be given a chance to be heard before being silenced on the spot by a bullet. There are many circumstances that an arresting police officer must sort out in his mind a split-second before pulling the trigger on a suspected drug-user/pusher who is still presumed innocent under the law. [continues 831 words]
President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign promise to eradicate the menace of illegal drugs in the country from three to six months may soon be realized at the rate the police are cracking the whip on drug lords and pushers. As of the latest count, there are already 312 dead, 3,228 arrested, 120,209 who surrendered and 63,972 houses raided. The government is turning the tide on its bloody war against drugs. "This will be a fight to the death," said PNP chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, who declared total war on drugs. He also warned police officers who are involved in drugs not to push their luck too much or else suffer the same fate as the drug lords. [continues 324 words]
EVER since the President won on a platform of ridding this country of drugs and crime, we have heard it said: this is not a war on drugs; it is a war on the poor. This is a violation of human rights, a violation of the rights of the poor to due process, their right to life, their right to live. Human rights are the soul of the country, said the Vice President. This President has no sense of what human rights are about, say critics. Media spins these deaths: they are all poor! The chairmen of Barangays Bel-Air, Dasmarinas, Forbes Park, San Lorenzo, and Urdaneta sign are no drug users and pushers in posh villages. [continues 770 words]
OUR new president, Rodrigo Duterte, asked us that he be given three to six months to eradicate the problem of drug trafficking and abuse that's plaguing our country. The number of casualties in the ongoing war against drugs, which is hardly a month-old, has alarmed the Commission on Human Rights and some citizens. Can we really win a war against drugs? We've been fighting this war for years, but illegal drugs remain within reach of anybody who wants to use them. What if the proliferation of drugs is not the real problem but just a "symptom"? [continues 189 words]
UNITED States Secretary of State John Kerry mentioned the need to protect civil and human rights during talks on a wide range of issues yesterday with President Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay. In a press briefing, Palace spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Kerry brought up the matter then listened "very intently" to the President's explanation of his drive against criminality. Before meeting with the President, Kerry held a joint press conference with Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay and spoke of the need to protect people's rights even as authorities seek to uphold peace and order. [continues 193 words]
The Senate is set to investigate the rising incidence of extrajudicial killings of alleged drug pushers even as President Duterte has vowed there will be no letup in his anti-drug campaign. The inquiry will be spearheaded by the Senate committee on justice and human rights, chaired by Sen. Leila de Lima, along with Sen. Panfilo Lacson as chairman of the committee on public order and dangerous drugs. De Lima earlier filed Resolution No. 9 seeking an investigation into "recent rampant extrajudicial killings and summary executions of suspected criminals to strengthen the mechanisms of accountability of law enforcers and to institute corrective legislative measures to ensure full respect of basic human rights, especially the right to life." [continues 182 words]
Country 'Drowning' Bishops, UN and Even Vice-President Alarmed at Vigilante Violence The new Philippines government's war on drugs has already killed almost 300 people since the start of July - but President Rodrigo Duterte wants the authorities to escalate the war. Mr Duterte shrugged off alarm over the rising body count in his first state of the nation address, declaring that drugs were drowning his country and human rights were no excuse to shield criminals. "Double your efforts. Triple them if need be," he said in a message to police. [continues 454 words]
CEBU CITY-The highest-ranking police official in Central Visayas revealed an offer made by what he said is a vigilante group to help the police bring down drug suspects as part of the Duterte administration's war on drugs. Chief Supt. Noli Talino, Central Visayas police director, said he received a text message from an anonymous group offering to help police kill suspected pushers and others involved in drug trafficking. "They want to take the law into their own hands because they could no longer stand the presence of people who continue to peddle or use illegal drugs," Talino said. [continues 341 words]
At least eight cases that bore the marks of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects are now being investigated by the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7). The probe came barely 24 hours after President Rodrigo Duterte's tirade against human rights advocates questioning his tough anti-crime policies, particularly on the slaying of suspected drug peddlers. Leo Villarino, CHR-7 chief investigator, said they received a directive from lawyer Diana De Leon of CHR's Human Rights Protection Office in Manila last July 15, mandating the regional office to conduct an investigation on what could be cases of summary executions. [continues 1087 words]
A MEMBER of the Quezon City Police District's (QCPD) antinarcotics division, whom the high command had monitored for allegedly reselling drugs seized in big-time raids and arrests, was shot dead by fellow officers who were carrying out what their leader called an "internal cleansing" of their ranks. Senior Insp. Ramon Castillo became another statistic in the Duterte administration's bloody war on drugs, albeit in a distinct category of kills. He allegedly refused to surrender and shot it out with a team who had him entrapped in a buy-bust operation in Greater Fairview, Quezon City, early Tuesday. [continues 488 words]
S. China Sea Gets Brief Mention in His State of the Nation Address Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday defended his deadly anti-crime war even as he enumerated a host of big measures to bring economic relief to wage earners, conclude peace with communist and Muslim rebels, fix infrastructure bottlenecks and improve disbursement of government resources through a shift to federalism. "We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and the last pusher have surrendered or put behind bars - or below the ground if they so wish," Mr Duterte said in his first State of the Nation Address before Congress. [continues 510 words]
THE VICTIMS of the Duterte administration's war on drugs were "sacrificial lambs" used to make people believe the campaign is a success, according to a ranking official of the Catholic Church. "Who are we to say they were hopeless and that they should die?" said Bishop Broderick Pabillo in his 14-minute homily at a Mass yesterday at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Ermita, Manila, which marked the launch of the Church's "Huwag Kang Papatay" (Thou Shall Not Kill) campaign. [continues 368 words]
Car Sales Exec: I'm Appalled at Silence on Vigilante Slays ACCOUNTABILITY and due process amid the wave of killings of suspected drug pushers and users, most of them poor, are among the hot-button issues that President Duterte should speak about in his first State of the Nation Address (Sona), according to people interviewed by the INQUIRER. Other issues include the President's stand on the Paris pact on climate change, conditional cash transfer and poverty alleviation, the South China Sea dispute, the monster traffic jams in Metro Manila, K-12 program and corruption. [continues 1143 words]
Amid public concerns, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported an increasing number of drug suspects getting killed since President Duterte assumed office on June 30. The PNP said the summary of the campaign against illegal drugs showed that 239 drug suspects were slain in police operations as of July 22. There were a total of 120,038 drug pushers and users who surrendered to authorities. On July 20, the PNP reported 207 suspected drug offenders getting killed in police operations, meaning an additional 32 deaths were recorded in two days. [continues 374 words]
At least 25,230 drug pushers and drug dependents have surrendered to police in Metro Manila since the government started its war on drugs, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) reported yesterday. NCRPO director Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde also noted the significant decrease in street crimes in the metropolis with the implementation of both Oplans Tokhang and Double Barrel. Tokhang involves visiting the homes of suspected drug users and pushers and asking them to change their ways while Double Barrel refers to a two-pronged campaign to arrest drug lords and pushers. [continues 307 words]
Message to Duterte to Coincide With Sona THOU shall not kill. The Sixth Commandment is the message for President Duterte that will emanate from a Mass which the Archdiocese of Manila will hold tomorrow afternoon as he delivers his first State of the Nation Address (Sona) to Congress. The Mass will mark the launching of the "Huwag Kang Papatay" (Thou Shall Not Kill) campaign, which aims to bring together the families of the victims of extrajudicial killings that have come with the Duterte administration's war on illegal drugs. [continues 678 words]
"LET US not allow violence to rule us but in every circumstance be vigilant and zealous in upholding the dignity and rights of all as befit responsible citizens and followers of Christ" is the plea in a "pastoral letter" issued by La Sallian Br. Jose Mari Jimenez FSC (no relation, as far as I know). Jimenez, who is president of De La Salle Philippines and auxiliary visitor (a regional supervisory post) for the De La Salle Brothers, thus joined other voices raised in concern over the number of people killed as part of the Duterte administration's deadly and bloody antidrug campaign. [continues 875 words]
With the focus of the intensified drug campaign now shifting to drug lords, President Duterte has clearly and literally spelled out his way of dealing with them: KILL. "It is spelled K-I-L-L. Bakit sabi mo kell? Bisaya eh (Why kell? It's Visayan)," he said, drawing laughter from his audience in Buluan in Maguindanao where he inspected a power plant operated by Green Earth Corp. last Friday. "Remember that I have always been consistent in my statements. During the campaign: Do not destroy my country because I will kill you. Can't you understand that?" he said, addressing the drug lords. [continues 507 words]
ALBERT EINSTEIN, the most influential physicist of the 20th century, reportedly said that if he were given one hour to save the world he would devote 55 minutes to defining the problem and five minutes to finding the solution. I think that is a rather lopsided proportion, but it does illustrate the point that we should not jump into solving a problem without spending time to understand it. Before rushing to solve a problem, whether it be the traffic mess, poverty, or drug addiction and crime, it is best to view it from different perspectives so as to come up with various insights. [continues 964 words]
ON MONDAY, President Duterte will deliver his first State of the Nation Address with some very real numbers to back him. From July 1 to 19, or the first three weeks of his centerpiece campaign against crime and the scourge of illegal drugs, police reports say some 103,375 suspected drug users and pushers have surrendered, about 30,000 of them in Central Luzon alone; nearly 3,000 persons have been arrested; and 194 drug suspects have been killed in purported legitimate operations. Philippine National Police Director General Ronald de la Rosa has also said that "crimes against property and persons, like physical injuries, theft, robbery, rape, [car theft have] significantly gone down." Doubtless, that assertion will come with its own supporting figures when the President once again delivers a ringing endorsement of his tough crime-fighting methods in his Sona. [continues 613 words]
The drug war is going big-time, with anti-narcotics agents killing the suspected operator of a shabu manufacturing facility in Valenzuela. Police raiders said Chinese national Meco Tan was shot dead when he tried to flee in his car during yesterday's early morning raid. Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa warned that more large-scale drug traffickers would fall in the coming days, amid observations that the drug war has so far focused only on small-scale and mostly low-income street pushers and impoverished drug users. [continues 256 words]
As noteworthy as the high number of drug suspects being killed daily is the number of cops arrested or themselves slain on suspicion of involvement in the illegal trade, or else relieved from their posts for drug use. We don't know when the law enforcers lost their way and became lawbreakers. Presumably they were still straight when they joined the Philippine National Police. PNP applicants are required to undergo psychiatric evaluation and a physical exam that includes testing for a drug habit. The number of cops being implicated in the drug trade indicates something wrong with the PNP recruitment process. Most of the cops apprehended, sacked or killed in the ongoing drug war are/were enlisted personnel who are/were relatively new in the force. [continues 802 words]
This three-month reign of perceived police terror left at least 2,274 people dead. The government and police implausibly ascribed the deaths to gangland feuding, insisting that only 42 drug suspects were shot by police officers-most of those in "self-defense". In fact, the government openly encouraged the police to carry out extra-judicial killings so that the arbitrary goals of its "war on drugs" could be met on time. The Narcotics Control Board provided the indices: 1,765 people arrested as major drug dealers and another 15,244 as minor dealers. More than 280,000 "drug pushers" and "addicts" gave themselves up to authorities and were sent for rehabilitation. In all, some 15.5 million pills were confiscated and the street price for the drug doubled or trebled over the course of the three months from February 1 to April 30. [continues 872 words]
VICE President Leni Robredo strongly condemned on Wednesday the spate of extrajudicial killings that have occurred recently. "This senseless and unjust violence must stop," she said. As the government steps up its war on drugs, and suspected users, pushers, and drug dealers are killed by police officers, vigilantes, or drug syndicates, the vice-president urged authorities to seriously investigate the killings and bring those responsible to justice. "The rise in extrajudicial killings is a call for all of us to uphold every person's right to due process," she said in a press statement. [continues 78 words]
In the 20 days since President Duterte took office, about 10 drug personalities were killed daily all over the country. Records of the Philippine National Police (PNP) show that 207 suspected drug pushers and users were killed from July 1 to 20. PNP records also show that 2,789 drug pushers and users were arrested while 114,833 surrendered during Duterte's first 20 days in office. Police conducted 61,806 house visitations to warn drug suspects. PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa yesterday led the Special Action Force to the New Bilibid Prison to crack down on drug lords dictating the trade while serving sentence in prison. [continues 225 words]
GOOGLE defines pogrom as an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, particularly the Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe in 1881-1884. The word is synonymous with massacre, slaughter, carnage, bloodbath without due process. Although not exactly similar in reach, intensity and wickedness, there is little difference between the Russian pogrom and the Duterte administration's ongoing campaign against those engaged in illegal drugs in their disregard for the sacredness of human life and lack of due process. Lately, various media outlets estimate that around 300 suspected drug addicts have already been killed by policemen and vigilante groups in various parts of the country since President Duterte's inauguration last June 30, 2016. The deaths have a familiar ring to it-the victims engaged the police in a shootout; they grabbed the gun of a cop or they tried to escape. One incredible aspect of this narrative is that hardly any cop has died in the process. Parati na lang ang drug addicts ang namamatay, hello? [continues 374 words]
the Citizen's Council for Human Rights (Cchr) Strongly Condemns the Escalating Number of Killings of Suspected Drug Pushers and Dependents WHO Said to Have Died Either During So-Called Legitimate Police Operations or at the Hands of Unknown Gunmen. the Surge in Fatalities Is Too Alarming to Be Ignored: From January 1 to May 9 This Year (129 Days), Reported Deaths From Drug-Related Violence Was 39. but the Death Count Suddenly Swelled After May 10. in a Matter of 64 Days, 251 Deaths Have Already Been Reported. What Makes These Spate of Executions Most Worrisome Is That This Was Prompted by President Duterte's Pronouncements, Made Even Before His Assumption into Office, That Urged the Police, Ordinary Citizens and Later, the New Peoples Army to Kill All Those Involved in the Illegal Drug Trade, With the Promise That He Would Shield Them Against Any Legal Consequences. [continues 1200 words]
ALMOST every day, we are being treated to spectacles on TV where relatives of alleged drug pushers are seen crying and wailing over their violent deaths in the hands of narcotic agents or policemen, and protesting the manner by which their loved ones were "terminated"-"Pinatay na parang baboy, eh, sumurender na nga!" The questions we have to ask are: How many years have those relatives known of the nefarious activities of those pushers and remained quiet about what they knew and, worse, while benefiting from the fruits of their crimes? How many lives have those pushers ruined over the years ( including my own son's)? If those relatives really cared for them that much as they now seem in front of TV cameras, how come they never did anything to make them stop? They were warned many months ago! [continues 278 words]
MANILA - Human rights are not a concern in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, he said, as he vowed to ignore due process and compared himself to Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. In the latest of a series of tirades, the country's newly elected leader doubled down on a promised campaign of widespread killings and said he wouldn't listen to "bleeding hearts". "I will retire with the reputation of Idi Amin," he said in a speech yesterday, referring to the late African ruler whose 1971-1979 regime was characterised by large-scale rights abuses that killed tens if not hundreds of thousands of Ugandans. [continues 263 words]
SUMMARY execution is outside of the law. High value drug pushers (if identified) could be subjected to silent killing by the joint forces of "The Punisher", "Mr. Death Wish," and "Dirty Harry." This could be beyond the movies if the vigilante groups will do their thing. We would like to believe that our policemen do their duty "to serve and to protect" by day, and we do not believe that they take off their uniforms at night to do a "Batman" raid with many "Robins." We want to evade that in our imagination, but that could happen. Our policemen are not expected to do vigilante actions because they are the agents of the persons in authority and they can always operate within the bounds of the law. [continues 656 words]
Unfazed by the public outcry over drug-related killings and arrests barely three weeks into his term, President Duterte said he doesn't mind having more drug offenders killed even if it would mean his being likened to the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Speaking at a fellowship dinner over the weekend with his batchmates at the San Beda College of Law, Duterte reiterated that he would not change his leadership style, which he said had been effective in Mindanao. Duterte was Davao City mayor for two decades. [continues 261 words]
THE PHILIPPINES may be heading toward another collision course with China-possibly over President Duterte's war on drugs. Barely a week after the Philippines won a favorable ruling from an international court in its maritime claims over the West Philippine Sea, Mr. Duterte over the weekend said he would confront the Chinese government regarding the country's problem on illegal drugs. "One day, I will ask China: Why is the situation like this? I won't say why are you sending them, but why is it that most of the guys who come here do drugs, even inside jail?" the President said in a private gathering in Malacanang on Sunday night. [continues 320 words]
OLONGAPO CITY- Confessed drug users and pushers have been asked to help the city government make caskets as part of their rehabilitation, to prove they were serious on abandoning their lifestyle. "You will help the city government make caskets," which are provided for free to residents who could not afford one for a deceased family member, Mayor Rolen Paulino said when he addressed 400 people who surrendered en masse on Friday. "There were people who died because they didn't have money to buy medicine. So how can their family afford a casket worth at least P20,000?" Paulino said. "This is going to be your source of livelihood." [continues 311 words]
A Party-List Lawmaker on Sunday Slammed the Government's Anti-Illegal Drug Campaign, Pointing Out That Only "Small Fry" Had Been Killed While Police Generals Linked to Big-Time Traffickers "Walk." Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said he supports President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, but bewailed the "apparent government-sanctioned extrajudicial killings of mostly small fry." "We want all those engaged in the illicit drug trade, big and small, but especially the big ones, captured and locked up. But we cannot tolerate summary executions, especially if all those targeted are mere street-level pushers," Atienza noted in a statement. [continues 231 words]
Other Suspects Urged to Prove They're Clean WHY did the "Punisher" let alleged drug Triad boss Peter Lim live another day? The Palace could not give the exact reason, but Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar yesterday sought to assure the public that there was no double standard in the government's war against illegal drugs. Lim, a wealthy businessman from Cebu, met with President Duterte in Davao City on Friday night as bodies of poor drug suspects continued to turn up in various parts of the country. [continues 687 words]
Mayors and other local officials have been ordered to curb the illegal drug trade in six months or else lose their power and control over the police. Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno yesterday issued the order to local government officials, warning they would be stripped of control and supervision over local police if they fail to address the drug problem in their jurisdictions. "We are giving them six months from now up to December. If they cannot lower the number of people with drug addiction in their area, they may be charged with serious neglect of duty," Sueno said. [continues 519 words]
"I will execute you," Dirty Rody warned suspected drug trafficker Peter Lim last Friday in Davao City. "I will finish you off." As of yesterday, Lim - one of some 400 Peter Lims in Cebu where he lives and of about 4,000 in the Philippines, according to Bureau of Immigration files - had not yet been "finished off." His face - with "drug lord" smeared all over it - is now known all over the Philippines. But he got an audience with the President of the Republic, and even managed to express support for The Punisher's take-no-prisoners anti-narcotics campaign. [continues 942 words]
SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur - Authorities in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur province, have been receiving complaints about extortion targeting suspected drug users and pushers and threatening them with death if they failed to pay up to P50,000 each. Tandag City Alexander Pimentel said in a radio interview that some people, who have been tagged as either users or pushers, have complained of getting text messages asking them to cough up cash or risk being killed as casualties of the war on drugs. [continues 364 words]
DAVAO CITY - There is hope for the hundreds of drug users who have surrendered, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA) director general Isidro Lapena said yesterday Lapena said the large number of drug users and dealers who surrendered shows that there is hope for them for the country. In President Duterte's first week in office, 24,000 drug users and pushers surrendered. They will be given the chance to go back to mainstream society and be free of drugs. "It is really overwhelming. We have these people who also wanted to change their lives. They see hope in the government's program," Lapena said. [continues 143 words]
SO IT was all for show. He never meant one word of it. Just plain rhetoric. Before he could even retake the reins of the Cebu City Government, he had been all over the news because of his bombastic pronouncements. What was that? He offered a P50,000-reward to any law enforcement operative who killed a drug personality. Who cares if the fatality was, in the eyes of the law, still innocent because he hadn't yet been convicted in court? But hey, as long as the guy was killed in a legitimate operation, that was alright for Tomas Osmena. [continues 548 words]
President Duterte threatened to kill businessman Peter Lim if it will be proven that he is among the country's top drug lords. Lim had a meeting with Duterte late Friday at the regional office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Davao City. After identifying Lim as among the drug personalities being protected by the so-called narco generals, Duterte threatened to kill the Cebu-based businessman if it will be proven that he is a drug lord. "I warned you that I will have you killed. I will really have you killed. If I'm able to prove (you're a drug lord), I will finish you off," Duterte warned Lim in the local dialect during their meeting. [continues 582 words]
HUMAN rights groups and the former head of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) expressed alarm on Thursday over the rising body count in the government's campaign against illegal drugs, saying it was turning out to be "a war versus the poor." In a press conference, the Citizens Council for Human Rights (CCHR)-a coalition of nongovernment and peoples organizations, human rights lawyers, the religious sector and academe-urged President Duterte to take steps to check the growing number of drug and criminal suspects killed in so-called police operations or found dead in the streets. [continues 459 words]
MANILA - The Philippine government yesterday hailed its war on drugs a "success", as police confirmed killing nearly 200 people in a two-month blitz that has outraged rights groups. President Rodrigo Duterte's office released a statement calling for the authorities to "seize the momentum" of the anti-drug campaign, which has also led to a spate of vigilante killings that one media group claims to have taken some 200 more lives. "Anti-drug campaign a success," said the title of the statement, released by presidential spokesman Martin Andanar. "While the campaign against drugs is far from perfect, a generation of Filipinos have been saved from this scourge of society and destroyer of lives." [continues 67 words]
Bato Says Syndicates Employing Vigilantes TRECE MARTIRES CITY- Director General Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa on Thursday said convicted drug lords were behind a rash of vigilante killings, directing hit men to target distributors who had run into difficulties remitting earnings following the Duterte administration's intensified campaign against illegal drugs. "For all you know, these drug syndicates, they're now killing each other," the Philippine National Police chief said at the burning of P1.77 billion worth of banned substances confiscated in police operations since February. [continues 621 words]
CLARIN, Bohol-Alma Arcales Sabejon, 42, tried to flee her assailants, wounded in the initial volley of fire. Desperate, she pleaded for help to bus passengers who could just watch as the gunmen ran after her and finished her off with a shot in the head. Ariel Pitong Unay was in his hotel room when policemen came knocking at 4:30 a.m. Minutes later, he lay dead in the bed with multiple gunshot wounds. Theirs is the latest in a string of killings being attributed to the heightened war on drugs launched by the Duterte administration. [continues 551 words]
Twelve more suspected drug pushers were killed in separate anti-drug operations in various parts of the country in the past two days. The figure showed an average of five suspects killed in a day since the Duterte administration declared a war against drugs. Among those killed from Wednesday to yesterday were three in Bataan, two each in Antipolo, Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, and one each in Camarines Sur, Southern Leyte and Olongapo. The fatalities included a former police officer, who was killed in yesterday's anti-drug operation in Sogod, Southern Leyte, which also resulted in the wounding of three members of the raiding team. [continues 251 words]
WARNING that the string of killings may escalate into a state-sponsored "crime against humanity," Sen. Leila de Lima is pushing ahead with her proposed legislative inquiry into the administration's bloody war against drugs and crime despite the reluctance of some senators. De Lima, who is expected to head the Senate committee on justice and human rights, yesterday filed Senate Resolution No. 9 calling for an "urgent" investigation into the "rampant extrajudicial killings and summary executions of suspected criminals" in aid of bolstering police accountability for excesses and to "institute corrective legislative measures to ensure full respect for basic human rights." [continues 462 words]
The aggressive clearing operation in drug-infested barangays in Metro Manila has resulted in the death of 43 drug personalities in the first 12 days of the Duterte administration. And since he assumed the post as director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on July 1, Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde said they already seized some 11.85 billion worth of illegal drugs in drug operations in Metro Manila alone. "Metro Manila will be the showcase of the change that the President promised to Filipino people. The NCRPO will be instrumental in translating that promise into reality," said Albayalde. [continues 368 words]
An official of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday urged the police to investigate incidents of vigilantism, saying this could undermine the current administration's war against illegal drugs. "The police should seriously look into these killings. This is murder being committed in the streets. People are being killed with impunity," said CHR commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana. Over the past weeks, dozens of bodies have turned up in different parts of the country, many of them with messages claiming that the victims were drug pushers or snatchers. [continues 1383 words]
MANILA - Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday raised concern over the rising number of extrajudicial killings alongside the new administration's fight against drugs and crime. Robredo called on authorities to look into more than 100 reported cases of drug-related killings in less than a month. "If there is really culpability, then justice requires that appropriate cases be filed and that those proven to be accountable be punished," she said in a statement. The vice president said she supports President Rodrigo Duterte's fight against illegal drugs but warned that it must be done under the exercise of the rule of law. [continues 150 words]
Inside Philippines
