Drug war death toll now 5,526 —gov't data

The number of drug suspects killed amid the government's anti-illegal drugs campaign has reached 5,526, according to latest government data bared Thursday.

The number is lower than the figure — 6,600 — given by the police in its accomplishment briefing last month.

According to Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Marie Rafael, a total of 134,583 drug operations had been conducted from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019.

During those operations, a total of 193,086 drug suspects have been nabbed. Of that number, 7,054 were high value targets.

Number of killed suspects

Philippine National Police (PNP) deputy spokesperson Police Lieutenant Colonel Kim Molitas explained that the number of killed drug suspects had changed because the initial data that police released was verified by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the lead agency in the government's drug war.

"Ito kasi 'yung vetted natin as far as the Real Numbers is concerned... Let us not forget na in the PNP, we have our media relations policy and we have committed na we'll provide real time numbers kasi, of course it's different when it goes vetting process and the validation process," Molitas said in ambush interview.

"That takes time... you can just imagine the tedious task of the PDEA going through all these case folders and be able to validate and confirm that this is indeed a drug case," she added.

Of the drug personalities arrested, 681 were government workers. Of that number, 282 were elected officials, 323 were government employees and 76 were uniformed personnel.

Rafael said a total of 13,753 barangays have been cleared out of the total 42,045 barangays. She added that more than 19,000 barangays have yet to be cleared by authorities.

The PCOO official also noted that the total value of shabu seized during operations already reached P25.99 billion.

In total, P34.75 billion worth of illegal drugs and laboratory equipment had been confiscated by authorities, Rafael said.

The government's violent anti-narcotics campaign has pitted the Duterte administration with human rights advocates and has garnered international attention.

Last June, 11 independent experts urged the UN Human Rights Council to launch an independent investigation into what they called a sharp deterioration in human rights across the Philippines due to "staggering number" of what they call violent and unlawful killings of drug suspects.

The UN experts also decried attacks on Duterte's critics and human rights advocates. —KBK/RSJ, GMA News