Drug dealers are killing each other — PNP chief

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa on Thursday shook off allegations that his men were behind the summary killings of drug suspects.

At a press conference in Cavite, Dela Rosa said he received information that drug leaders had their distributors killed since the government's intensified campaign against illegal drugs allegedly prevented the latter from remitting proceeds.

"They are killing each other dahil nga ang ibang distributor hindi nakakabayad. Kaya yung ibang nakakulong sa Bilibid, tatawagan nila ang kanilang mga hitman sa labas na patayin si distributor na ito," the PNP chief said in a report of GMA News' Mariz Umali on "24 Oras."

"Sige kaya turo sa pulis, na pulis ang pinagsususpetsahan ninyo pero 'yung gumagawa ng patayan, 'yan ang kagagawan ng mga drug syndicate," he added.

The data on the Duterte administration's war on crime from July 1 to 13 showed that at least 135 people were killed or an average of about 10 persons killed per day. There were also 1,844 persons arrested or about 141 persons a day on average, according to police data gathered by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

The spike in the killing of drug suspects was noted by the Commission on Human Rights and Senator Leila De Lima, who urged the Senate to look into it.  — Virgil Lopez/BAP, GMA News