MANILA -- The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on Tuesday said the total number of homicides cases under investigation (HCUIs), under the "Fighting Against Illegal Drugs" chapter in its 2017 accomplishment report, were included to create a distinction on the number of deaths that were all related to the administration's anti-illegal drugs operations.
"We included the figures on homicide cases under investigation when we published real numbers to make it clear that there is a different number which is directly related to deaths during drug operations since the opposition had been insisting on the numbers most convenient for them to push their political agenda," Assistant Secretary Marie Rafael said in a phone interview.
On Monday night, non-profit media organization Vera Files said it stands by its Fact Check report that Rafael contradicted official data when she denied that tens of thousands have been killed in the administration's anti-illegal drugs campaign.
In its new statement, Vera Files said the figures of 16,533 HCUIs from July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017, and 3,967 "drug personalities who died in anti-drug operations" from July 1, 2016 to November 2017 were under the "Fighting Illegal Drugs" chapter and labeled as #RealNumbers" in the 2017 Year-End Accomplishment Report published by the PCOO.
Vera Files argued that these figures "belie" PCOO's July 14 statement that homicide cases cited in the report "under investigation are not at all related to the anti-illegal drugs campaign."
Rafael said these HCUIs are indeed "not at all" related to official anti-drugs operations conducted by law enforcers, as these are "still undergoing probe".
Vera Files also pointed to an April 2018 Supreme Court resolution, which ordered the government to explain the "total of 20,322 deaths during the Duterte Administration's anti-drug war from July 1, 2016 to November 27, 2017, or an average of 39.46 deaths every day," which it said was "expressly reported" under the said "Fighting Illegal Drugs" section of the 2017 Yearend Report.
Commenting on this, Rafael said: "This simply means that the SC wants to get clarification on the mentioned figures. As we explained, there is a different number of casualties directly related to the anti-drug operations." (PNA)
