Philippine President Hails Police for Biggest Single-day Toll in Drug War

Mark Navales
2017.08.16
Ozamiz, Philippines
170816-PH-drugs-620.jpg People take part in a funeral procession in the southern Philippine city of Ozamiz for Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, who was among 15 people slain in a police anti-drug raid, Aug. 16, 2017.
Mark Navales/BenarNews

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday praised police for what officials said was the highest single-day death toll in his administration’s internationally condemned war on drugs.

Police initially reported 21 deaths in coordinated drug raids in the suburbs of Bulacan province, just outside of Manila, on Monday night. But 11 more deaths were reported hours later by police, making the total – 32 fatalities – the biggest so far since Duterte won election last year on a pledge to eradicate illegal drugs and turn Manila Bay into a dumping ground for dead pushers and addicts.

In a rambling speech on Wednesday, Duterte told members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), a victims’ support group, that his government was serious in its anti-crime drive, as he again blamed the proliferation of drugs for most of the country’s woes.

He urged the 170,000-member police force to carry out similar anti-drug raids in the future.

“Those who died in Bulacan, 32, in a massive raid, that’s good,” Duterte said. “If we can kill another 32 every day, then maybe we can reduce what ails this country.”

Police Superintendent Romeo Caramat told a news conference that those deaths occurred during shootouts in 67 police raids.

“We have conducted ‘one-time, big-time’ operations in the past. So far, the number of casualties and deaths, this is the highest,” Caramat said.

There were no reported injuries on the police side, he said, adding that officers also arrested 100 suspects.

Monday’s violence came more than two weeks after police in the southern Philippine city of Ozamiz killed the local mayor and 14 others in an anti-drug raid.

Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog was among Duterte’s list of 150 judges, politicians, policemen and military personnel allegedly involved in drugs.

The Parojinog family has denied allegations they were drug dealers and a witness who survived the incident said family members were executed because there was no fighting during the raid.

Thousands killed

All in all, more than 8,000 people have been killed in Duterte’s drug war, including those slain by vigilantes.

To put that into perspective, that figure is far greater than the estimated 3,200 activists who died during the 20-year authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted by a popular uprising in 1986.

Earlier, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the police Internal Affairs Service would investigate the deaths in Bulacan to determine the validity of claims by raiding officers that they were met with “armed resistance” leading to the gun battles.

Duterte said he expected that rights groups would call for an independent probe. But he insisted drug addicts and pushers who were out to kill cops “do not observe justice.”

He emphasized the drug problem was already slowly turning the country into a “narco-politics” state, and if the government did not carry out drastic measures, the problem would persist.

Duterte also acknowledged the problem was so huge that he had initially underestimated it. He had earlier vowed to stamp out the menace in three months, or he would resign.

“It’s really a problem. It takes a toll on the lives of people, whether you are really the victim or the criminal,” Duterte said.

Supporters of the late Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog march in the rain during a funeral procession for him, his wife and two other people who were killed in an anti-drug operation, Aug. 16, 2017. [Mark Navales/BenarNews]

‘A murder, clear as day’

In Ozamiz on Wednesday, about 3,000 people joined a funeral march for Parojinog, his wife and two others. They were buried after an extended wake of more than two weeks.

Amid pouring rain, residents carried signs calling for justice, in a largely peaceful, but tense, gathering. Police, who were armed with rifles, dotted the street and closely watched the proceedings.

“Justice for all the victims,” read one sign carried by one of Parojinog’s supporters, who also denounced the heavy police presence in the area.

“We demand that the killers of the mayor be prosecuted. What happened was not a police raid that led to a shootout,” said a supporter who declined to be named. “It was murder, clear as day.”

Felipe Villamor contributed to this report from Manila.

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