PNP: 9 suspects killed in drug war every day

EDITORIAL

An average of nine drug suspects were killed every day in the campaign against illegal drugs in the past 11 months, according to Philippine National Police records.

Based on the PNP’s Real Numbers Data, 3,027 were killed from July 1, 2016 to May 23 this year, or 329 days of the Duterte administration.

Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos, PNP spokesman, said 1,286,389 drug users and pushers surrendered and 1,684 kilos of shabu seized.

At least 78,804 suspects were arrested in 59,364 anti-drug operations.

Carlos said 43 policemen were killed and 127 wounded in shootouts with drug suspects.

Human rights groups have questioned police procedures in arrests and killings of drug suspects, but according to Camp Crame, the PNP is going by the rules.

In Cordillera, law enforcement units, non-government organizations, line agencies  and community leaders met recently at Camp Dangwa, the regional police headquarters in La Trinidad, Benguet to assess police operational procedures to make sure human rights are being respected.

Chief Supt. Dennis Siervo, chief of the PNP human rights affairs office at Camp Crame, said the forum was aimed at providing sectors with information on how the police operate and to give them a briefer to determine if there were violations.

Participants were briefed on the police operational procedure and Republic Acts 7438 and 9745.  A speaker from the Commission on Human Rights also talked on mandate of the agency.

Siervo said community-based dialogues nationwide allow different sectors to assess police operations. He said the HRAO’s activity was to wage a campaign and not to wage war.

He said for a period of two years, the HRAO acted on 17 human rights violations. There were 12 cases in 2015 and five cases in 2016.

Human rights groups have questioned the low number of cases purportedly investigated by the PNP when the number of illegal drug suspects allegedly killed by lawmen ran to almost 6,000.

According to rights groups, people nowadays fear being killed by abusive and irresponsible lawmen who put the law in their own hands. It would do well for the PNP to probe more summary killings done by cops objectively, otherwise, the credibility of the country’s main peace and order agency would still be rock bottom.