Cayetano tells Al Jazeera: More than 3,000 killed in police ops all drug dealers

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano defended President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs in an in-depth interview on Al Jazeera on Friday.

Cayetano answered UpFront host Mehdi Hasan's questions regarding the country's anti-illegal drug campaign, including more than 3,000 deaths as a result of police operations.

The DFA chief told Hasan that the victims of the drug war were drug dealers despite the host questioning the lack of due process in anti-drug operations.

"How do we know that? You didn't try them. You didn't prosecute them. You didn't charge them. You shot them on sight. That's not a democratic way of solving crime, is it?" Hasan asked.

"You're absolutely saying it as if you're not on the ground. Come and look. So, if I pull a gun on you here, right now, and you shoot me, it's your fault? Or it's my fault?" Cayetano said.

Hasan countered, "That's not what I asked. I said three and a half thousand people have been killed... Are they all criminal drug dealers?"

"Yes," Cayetano answered.

In one part of the interview, Hasan asked if the police officers arrested by the government admitted to "false killings" or framing victims of the drug war.

Cayetano replied that the officers were "charged for murder" and did not admit to such accusations. —Rie Takumi/JST, GMA News