Bato admits most of those killed in drug war are poor, but not sole targets

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa admitted Tuesday that most of those killed in the government’s war against drugs are poor drug pushers but it does not mean they are the sole targets of the campaign.

“Bakit mahirap ba si (Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo) Parojinog? Mahirap si mayor ng Albuera, Leyte, si (Rolando) Espinosa? Hindi naman,” Dela Rosa told reporters when asked on the Social Weather Station survey results which showed that most Filipinos believe the drug war targets poor people.

The SWS survey said six out of 10 Filipinos believe that only drug suspects from the ranks of the poor have been targeted for killings. 

It said 33 percent of Filipinos strongly agreed and 27 percent somewhat agreed to the proposition: “Hindi pinapatay ang mga mayayaman na drug pusher; ang mga pinapatay ay ang mahihirap lamang.” (Rich drug pushers are not killed; only the poor ones are killed.)

But Dela Rosa said most of the drug pushers are poor because that is how the illegal drug operations work.

“Totoo naman talaga, mas maraming mahirap na nagbebenta ng droga kesa mayaman kasi you have to understand the structure of the drug pyramid. ‘Yung drug pyramid, yung mayayaman, drug lord, iisang drug lord sa taas, pababa ‘yan down the line, yung pinakamababa yung street pushers puro mahirap ‘yun,” he said.

He said this is the reason the poor are the usual targets of buy-bust operations.

“Iilan lang ‘yung mayayaman na drug pusher kaya kapag nagconduct ang pulis ng buy bust operation most  likely yung mahirap na nagpupush ng droga ang matatamaan dahil we are talking about numbers. Mas maraming mahirap na nainvolve sa drug pushing but hindi naman natin pwede pabayaan ‘yan kaya nga nagkakaroon tayo ng war on drugs kasi kinoconfront natin ‘yung problema,” he said.

He said the PNP already arrested a number of well-off drug suspects but he did not name names.

“Marami nang nakuha. I-cover n’yo ‘yung mga nakukuha, tingnan n’yo ‘yung makukuha na malalaki,” he said.

Asked when the time will be that no drug suspect will be killed in operations, the PNP chief said: “Kung wala nang lumalaban, wala nang mamamatay. Hangga’t merong lalaban, may tsansa talaga na mamatay either yung lumalaban or ‘yung pulis na nilalabanan. Well, hindi natin kontrolado ang sitwasyon na ganun.” 

From July 1, 2016 to September 15, 2017, a total of 3,850 drug suspects died in police operations, police records showed.

Dela Rosa earlier said that 85 police officers and soldiers have been killed while conducting anti-illegal drug operations while 204 have been critically wounded. — RSJ, GMA News