Philippine MPs alarmed by drug-war budget hike
manila — Philippine lawmakers urged the government on Thursday to explain a proposal to increase a police budget for antinarcotics operations by 4,400 per cent, amid concern about the scale of the bloodshed in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
The anti-drug crackdown, Duterte’s signature campaign, has caused international alarm and led to efforts by some domestic critics to see him tried before the International Criminal Court.
Duterte says his campaign is justified because drugs are destroying the Philippines and are a root cause of rampant crime.
The plan to raise the budget sharply comes amid some rare public outrage about the death in August of 17-year-old high school student Kian Loyd delos Dantos, who was killed by drugs squad police in what they said was self defence during an attempt to arrest him.
His family says he was not a drug user and had no weapon. Duterte has promised the family justice.
The interior ministry’s proposal is to grant police a 900 million peso ($17.58 million) budget for anti-drug operations next year, according to several lawmakers.
“This is over 4,000 per cent increase from only 20 million pesos this year,” Congressman Carlos Zarate told reporters. “How many more deaths are we expecting here?” How many more Kian delos Santoses will die?”
More than 3,500 people have been killed since June 30 last year in anti-drug sting operations and police say some 2,100 homicides during that time were drug-related.
Activists have accused the police of executing suspected dealers and users, but the authorities reject that and say those killed in operations had violently resisted arrest. —