PNP: 6,011 homicide cases recorded since July
THE Philippine National Police (PNP) said Monday that it recorded 6,011 homicide cases, including the drug-related killings, since the administration took office in July 2016.
PNP's Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) director Augusto Marquez said from July 1, 2016 to March 26, 2017, 6,011 homicide cases were recorded, of which 1,398 or 23.2 percent were related to illegal drugs, 828 or 13.8 percent were non drug-related, and 3,785 or 63 percent are still being investigated if related or not to illegal drug operations.
PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa said they want to correct the information that there were at least 7,000 cases of killings attributed to the illegal drugs.
“We just want to disprove ‘yung claim by some sectors that there were 7,000 EJKs (extrajudicial killings) so that the public would not be misled,” he said.
“Hindi kami nagpapapogi. Hindi kami nagpopropaganda. Hindi kami nagmi-mislead. Gusto namin to set the record straight, i-correct ‘yung maling report so that the Filipino and international community cannot be misled by false reporting,” he added.
However, those killed in the anti-illegal drug police operations were not yet in- cluded in the figures released by the DIDM.
From July 1 to January 31, PNP said 2,555 suspected drug personalities were killed during their 43,593 anti-illegal drug police operations, while more than 53,000 were arrested.
On February, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the PNP to stop conducting antiillegal drug operations and instead focus on the internal cleansing after several policemen got involved in the kidnap-slay of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo inside the police headquarters in Camp Crame.
Following the directive of the President, the PNP on March 6 launched its Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded as they rejoin the administration's war on drugs.
In the 2,613 anti-illegal drug operations conducted from March 6 to 26, the PNP said 60 drug personalities were killed while 4,160 were arrested.