Deadly drug war reports hurting tourism: Manila

bangkok — The Philippines tourism secretary urged the media Wednesday to “tone down” coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war, complaining that reports on extrajudicial killings were scaring away foreigners.

On a trip to Thailand accompanying Duterte, Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo insisted the Philippines was a safe destination but said journalists were making the country a hard sell because of their focus on the killings.

“Help us because you know, it’s really difficult for me to sell the Philippines, especially when extrajudicial killings becomes the topic,” Teo told Filipino reporters following the Duterte entourage.

Teo said tour operators abroad were “always” asking her about the issue, citing Asia and Europe as regions where people were particularly concerned.

“To the media, please tone down a little the extrajudicial killing (reports),” she said.

Duterte was elected last year after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.

Since he took office nearly nine months ago, police have reported killing 2,594 people in the drug war while rights groups say thousands more have been killed in a campaign of mass murder. While most of those killed have been poor people living in slums, some foreigners have also died. —