More than 1000 suspected drug users or dealers have been killed by police or vigilantes in the Philippines in less than three months, according to a news report from ABS CBN News.
A separate tally from GMA News is fewer, and said that since 10 May – the day Rodrigo Duterte was announced the winner of the presidential poll – at least 601 people have been killed because they were suspected to have been involved with drugs.
The deadliest day fell on August 11 where a total of 27 drug men were killed.
The killings appear to have been carried out by police, who attribute the violence to suspects who “resisted arrest and shot at police officers”, and vigilante groups emboldened by Duterte’s promises of impunity.
During the campaign, Duterte said 100,000 people would die in his crackdown, with so many dead bodies dumped in Manila Bay that fish there would grow fat from feeding on them.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS POST?
Share your ideas by commenting.