Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war deaths reach 1,800

Relatives of victims of alleged extra-judicial killings at the start of the Senate probe on the rising number of deaths related to President Duterte’s “War on Drugs” (Photo: AP)

The Philippines has recorded about 1,800 drug-related killings since President Rodrigo Duterte took office seven weeks ago and launched a war on narcotics, far higher than previously believed, according to police figures.

Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa told a Senate committee on Monday that 712 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations since July 1.

Police were also investigating 1,067 other drug-related killings, Dela Rosa said, without giving details. The comments came a day after Duterte lashed out at the United Nations for criticising the wave of deaths.

As recently as Sunday, the number of suspected drug traffickers killed in Duterte’s war on drugs had been put at about 900 by Philippine officials. But this number included people who died since Duterte won the May 9 presidential election.

Duterte said in a bizarre and strongly worded late-night news conference on Sunday the Philippines might leave the United Nations and invite China and others to form a new global forum, accusing it of failing to fulfill its mandate.

However, his foreign minister, Perfecto Yasay, said on Monday the Philippines would remain a U.N. member and described the president’s comments as expressions of “profound disappointment and frustration”.

“We are committed to the U.N. despite our numerous frustrations and disappointments with the international agency,” Yasay told a news conference.

Last week, two U.N. human rights experts urged Manila to stop the extra-judicial executions and killings.