CHR: Average of 10 suspects killed per day under Duterte

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Monday said the total number so far of drug suspects killed in the government's intensified campaign against drug syndicates could be as much as 150 or even higher.

In a report by GMA News' Tina Panganiban-Perez on "24 Oras," CHR commissioner Robert Cadiz said the number might be higher since not all incidents are reported in the media.

"Since [President Rodrigo Duterte] took his oath of office, parang there is an average of 10 in EJK (extrajudicial killings) case per day," Cadiz said. "I think that is alarming."

Police records show a much lower number — 103 from May 10 to July 3, 2016, or at least two drug suspects killed per day, the report said.

Among the eight regions that reported extrajudicial killings, Region IV recorded the most number with 43, followed by Region III with 31 and Region 7 with 8.

The CHR, which is opposed to the killings, noted that 90 percent of the slain suspects came from low-income families.

It urged the government to go after big-time drug lords if the Duterte administration is really serious in ending the drug menace in the country.

"Baka mamaya ang nagtuturo doon sa mga pinapatay [ay] mga sindikato rin, trying to eliminate the competition," Cadiz said.

Cadiz clarified the constitutional body is not protecting criminals but only looking after the lives of the innocent. He also urged the public to make a stand on the spate of extrajudicial killings.

"If we do not speak, this will continue into the next six months, and then another six months, and another six months. Many innocent people would have lost their lives by then. And what if its already your kin, your son, your brother, your father, who is being killed? Saka ka lang magsasalita ng due process?" Cadiz said.

Even the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) has expressed concern on the series of killings.

"Alam po niyo itong marching orders na to is subject to abuse by the cops. In the process na nagko-comply sila sa eradication ng crimes [in] three to six months, ang nangyayari nasho-shortcut nila because yung pressure nasa kanila," VACC spokesperson Boy Evangelista said in the report. —Joseph Tristan Roxas/KBK, GMA News