Government corrects drug war deaths by a thousand

MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration has reduced the official tally of the people killed in the drug war by about a thousand.

Latest data from the government’s RealNumbersPH platform showed that a total of 5,601 people were killed in alleging shootouts with law enforcers waging President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.

When sought for comment, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general Aaron Aquino admitted that there are discrepancies in the drug war data released by officials due to improper accounting procedures. 

The tally released on Monday afternoon covered the period from July 1, 2016 to Jan. 31, 2020. 

The number is significantly lower than the figures released by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in July 2019.

Former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde then said that over 6,600 drug suspects were killed in the first three years of the drug war in police operations alone.