Dumping of drug suspects in Manila Bay ‘hearsay’ — Palace

Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra during Mindanao Hour Press Briefing in Malacañang

MANILA, July 31 — Malacañang on Monday branded as “hearsay” a report alleging that bodies of drug suspects were being dumped in Manila Bay.

On Friday, Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera published a report quoting a Filipino fisherman as saying that he and his buddies have been dumping bodies of drug suspects in highways and in Manila Bay on the orders of the police.

In a Palace briefing, Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra dismissed the report as mere allegations since it has not been substantiated with any other evidence.

“Well, as far as we are concerned, those are mere allegations. If there are no evidence to back that up, then that remains as hearsay,” Guevarra said.

After the report was published, detained Senator Leila de Lima, one President Duterte’s staunchest critics, called for a Senate investigation into the alleged practice, which she dubbed “bangkay sa bangka.”

The Senator, who is imprisoned since the last week of February due to drug charges, said the practice may have been one of the reasons why “the number of deaths in the war against drugs has not been updated or altogether been kept from the public.”

The government has repeatedly pointed out to local and foreign critics that the number of deaths being reported as killed in the war against drugs — from 7,000 to 9,000 — were overblown.

Latest Philippine National Police (PNP) data show that a total of 3,200 drug personalities were killed in legitimate anti-drug operations in the first year of the Duterte administration.

The PNP has also determined that out of the 12,833 homicide cases from July 1, 2016 to June 16, 2017, 2,098 deaths were drug-related and 2,535 non-drug related.

In the meantime, police said that a total of 8,200 homicide cases are under investigation “with motives to be determined.” (Cielito M. Reganit/PNA)

Popular

Gov’t vows to create more jobs amid slight uptick in unemployment rate — DEPDev, DOLE

By Brian Campued The administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. remains committed to generating high-quality jobs amid the slight increase in the number of...

PBBM hails upcoming implementation of facial recognition tech at NAIA

By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet Upon assuming the role of presidency after his triumph at the 2022 polls, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has vowed to...

Public hospitals give free anti-rabies vaccines – Palace

By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet The threat of rabies is not to be underestimated, as the viral, zoonotic tropical disease remains an omnipresent public health concern...

PNP Chief Torre vows 3-minute response time nationwide

By Brian Campued New Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief PGen. Nicolas Torre III on Monday announced that the PNP will institutionalize a three-minute police response...