MANILA – Drug-related killings plunged into downward trend while politically-related crimes have doubled, a year before the midterm elections, the Philippine National Police reported.
PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Bernard Banac said there were only 272 drug-related homicides last year, 70 percent lower compared to 956 cases in 2017.
Among the drug-related murders were rivalry between drug gangs that peaked with 72 incidents, while 55 cases include people killed to prevent them from divulging information on associates.
“Ito lamang ay nagpapatunay na yung mga ibinabatong mga paratang na may extra judicial killings sa mga nakaraang taon, walang basehan,” Banac said in a statement on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the number of “politically-motivated” killings doubled to 38 cases last year from 19 incidents tallied in 2017. Among the prominent case was of AKO Bicol Party-list representative Rodel Batocabe last December.
“Pattern na ito ng Philippine politics, kapag before election time at filing of candidacy, there is a spike of cases of political killings,” Banac explained, noting the filing of candidacies for midterm elections happened in October 2018.
“Puro high-profile ang nangyayaring killings kasi nga mga politician ang involved. That’s why ‘yung election laws, napakahigpit, like carrying of firearms, security or bodyguards, na nagko-contribute doon sa tension, private armies,” he added.
The PNP spokesman further said the killings that were not related to illegal drugs also went down by more than a thousand to 5,194 last year from 6,437 in 2017.
“The lower number of killings can be attributed to the better police presence,” he said. “Sa presensiya ng pulis ay kaagad nakakapagbigay ng warning sa criminal na makapagbago ng isip nila bago pa man nila ituloy.”/PN
