Philippines' drug war hits 2000 deaths
By Manuel Mogato - AAP on August 31, 2016, 9:06 am
The number of drug-related killings in the Philippines since Rodrigo Duterte became president two months ago on a pledge to wipe out the illegal drug trade, has reached around 2000.
There has been popular support for his campaign, but the wave of killings unleashed since his election victory has alarmed rights groups and brought expressions of concern from the United States, a close ally of Manila.
As officials readied a publicity campaign to explain his fight against on narcotics, the Philippine National Police said that close to 900 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations from July 1 to August 20.
That was an increase of 141 people over a week, on average 20 people a day.
Last week the police said 1100 other drug-related killings that were not classified as police operations were also being investigated.
No new number for that category was given on Tuesday but, together with the new figure for police encounters, the total came to around 2000.
Duterte won the presidency of the Southeast Asian nation in a May election on a promise to wipe out drugs.
Two UN human rights experts recently urged the Philippines to stop extra-judicial killings, drawing a furious response from Duterte, who threatened to pull his country out of the United Nations.
Duterte's communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said on Monday that an advertisement explaining the anti-drug campaign would air next week.
He said his office would also publish a pamphlet to explain the rising body count.
This would be issued on the president's first trip abroad next week, first to Brunei and then to an East Asia summit in Laos.
The White House said on Monday that U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to meet Duterte in Laos on September 6, and plans to touch on human rights as well as security concerns.
