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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Thursday, March 30, 2017
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MANILA – Sen. Grace Poe on Tuesday reminded the government of its main duty which is to protect its people.
“The lives of every Filipino, rich or poor, should be protected by government,” Poe said.
Her statement came after Philippine National Police (PNP) chief director general Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa refuted claims that 7,000 drug suspects were killed as part of the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs.
Dela Rosa said that only 1,398 deaths of the 6,011 “homicide cases” reported between July 1, 2016 to March 24, 2017 were drug-related.
The rest were classified by police as vigilante killings and deaths under investigation.
“We just want to disprove ‘yung persistent and irritating claim by some sectors that there are 7,000 EJKS na pine-present nila hindi lang dito sa local community, pati sa international community. We just want to disprove that allegation so the public will not be misled,” the PNP chief said.
However, the chairwoman of the Senate public information and public services committees insisted that the casualties of the war on drugs “should not be the point.”
“Whether seven thousand or two thousand, or seven or two; whether it’s called EJK or collateral damage, law enforcement must never lose sight of justice and humanity,” she said.
Last year, the Senate justice and human rights committee led by Sen. Richard Gordon conducted an investigation into the reported prevalence of summary killings in the country under Duterte’s administration.
Its committee report absolved President Rodrigo Duterte and the government of any involvement in the EJK.
Poe was among the five senators who did not sign the report. The others were senators Joseph Victor Ejercito, Leila de Lima, Ralph Recto, and Antonio Trillanes IV./PN
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