Duterte’s figures on cops involved in drugs ‘conflicting’

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has been giving conflicting numbers of the policemen linked to drug operations in the country, leaving the public and the media confused about how many policemen are really in his list of drug suspects.

In the interview with state-run PTV-4 aired Friday night, Duterte said “there are about 17,000 policemen in this country involved in drugs.”

He also said that gangsters from China and Taipei are running drug operations in the country, which is being used as transshipment point to the United States and other countries.

But during his speech in Balangiga, Eastern Samar last Thursday, Duterte said around 9,000 policemen are involved in the drug trade.

“There are about 9,000 policemen all over the country into drugs. The problem is not that easy,”  he said.

But Duterte is consistent with his statement that 40 percent of barangays are allegedly afflicted with illegal drugs.

There are 42,036 barangays in the country, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) records as of Dec. 31, 2015.

Duterte also washed his hands anew over the cases of summary killings, which have reached thousands since he started his term last year.

“Yung extrajudicial killing, ‘yung patayan diyan, wala kaming pakialam, talagang wala kaming pakialam (That extrajudicial killing, those murders, we don’t give a damn, we really don’t give a damn),” he said.

He again claimed that drug suspects are paranoid, that is why they fight it out with the police.

Duterte reiterated that his anti-drug war is meant to save the next generation, and there is nothing wrong with his statement that he will kill those into drugs because they destroy the nation because he has a mandate to protect the country and its people.

PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos did not reply when asked to comment on Duterte’s statement that either 17,000 or 9,000 policemen are into drugs.

For DILG officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy, the high number of policemen involved in drugs and other illegal activities is the reason why the administration is intensifying its efforts to clean the police force.

“We are intensifying our internal cleansing precisely to address scalawags within the Philippine National Police,” Cuy said in a phone interview.

Asked where Duterte got his conflicting numbers, Cuy said the President has his own sources.  – With Emmanuel Tupas