By Azer Parrocha/PNA
MANILA — Drug coddlers who continue to resist arrest have to face the consequences of their actions, Malacañang said Wednesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark after government data from July 1, 2016 to Nov. 30 this year showed that 5,050 people have been killed in drug operations after allegedly resisting arrest.
Panelo said this figure is “way behind” the figures reported in “false news agencies.”
He refused to say whether it was a small or big number but noted that “the number of deaths occurring in drug related cases will depend on the circumstances surrounding the arrest.”
“It depends on how those involved in drugs will respond to operations against them. If they become violent just as early, the result will be violent too. What you sow, you reap,” Panelo said.
“It means that the people involved there are resisting arrest or using violence; that’s why in the process, they are given the consequent violence coming from the police officers,” he added.
Panelo, meanwhile, defended the Duterte administration’s drug war anew noting that most of the drug related came “from the members of the syndicate themselves.”
Citing the President, Panelo said the war on drugs should sustain its momentum as more work needs to be done.
“I’m even amazed at until now there have been many buy-bust operations all over the country. The fight against drugs should be unrelenting,” he added.