At least 200 people have been killed in intensified police operations against drug traffickers since the election of President Rodrigo Duterte, officials said.
But the number jumps to more than 300 if vigilante killings are included, as tallied by ABS-CBN News.
Figures released on Thursday by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Directorate for Investigative and Detective Management (DIDM) showed that 192 drug suspects have been killed by police in anti-illegal drug operations between May 10 and July 10.
A total of 35,276 drug suspects surrendered, while 8,110 were arrested on drug offenses. A total of 6,478 cases have been filed before prosecutors, police said.
Authorities have maintained that those killed had engaged law enforcers in shootouts or, in at least one recent case, attempted to wrest away weapons from police officers.
The number of deaths reported by the police did not include the increasing number of victims of summary killings, many of whose bodies were dumped on the streets, bearing cardboard signs stating that they were “drug pushers.”
ABS-CBN News, however, has reported that at least 311 people have been killed since May 10 – 224 by police operatives and 87 by vigilantes.
The PNP-DIDM figures showed that Southern Tagalog Region had the most number of drug suspects killed in police operations with 57, followed by Central Luzon with 46.
They were followed by Metro Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR) with 21, Soccskargen with 19, and the Davao Region 17.
Fourteen drug suspects were killed in Central Visayas, six in the Bicol Region, and three in Western Mindanao. Southern Tagalog had the most number of drug suspects arrested during the two-month period with 2,230, followed by NCR with 1,906 and Central Luzon with 1,097.
Meanwhile, a police officer who had gone AWOL (absent without leave) and turned to drug trafficking was gunned down by fellow policemen late Thursday night in Quezon City.
Reports reaching the office of Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, director of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), said Elito Obligacion, assigned with the Marikina City Police, sustained several gunshot wounds after he engaged operatives of the QCPD Police Station 3 in a gun battle.
Obligacion was the second police officer slain in Quezon City in connection with the
Philippine National Police’s intensified campaign against the drug menace.
On Sunday evening, Ariel Arnaiz, assigned in Caloocan City, was also killed by Quezon City policemen in a drug operation in Novaliches.
Information from Eleazar’s office showed that while Obligacion was listed as one of the notorious drug dealers in Quezon City, the QCPD’s District Anti-Illegal District-Special Operations Task Group (DAID-SOTG) did not hunt him down.