Manila: The head of the Philippines’ nearly 150,000 strong national police has blamed drug syndicates for the recent rash in extrajudicial killings.

“You’ll be surprised that the killings were not carried out by vigilante groups, but by drug dealers themselves,” national police director- general Ronald Dela Rosa said during a press briefing.

There had been insinuations of vigilantes or groups eager to eliminate criminality at the cost of carrying out killings being behind the rash of murders and incidents involving drug suspects. Dela Rosa said this were not the case at all.

According to reports, the number of slayings targeting drug suspects had already exceeded 500 since Duterte assumed the presidency on July 1.

“As it turns out, the suspected vigilante killings were actually carried out by syndicates involved in drugs,” he noted while pointing out that they have “scientific evidence” to back this claim.

Earlier, he had warned of the possibility that drug dealers would carry out killings in a bid to silence the street peddlers that they employ.

Duterte had launched a massive campaign against drugs in consonance with promises he made during his campaign for the presidency. He lumped substance abuse together with bureaucratic corruption as one of the major concerns that afflict Philippine society.

Groups such as Human Rights Watch as well as the US Department of State had aired concern over the killings taking place in the country.

According to Senator Panfilo Lacson, at least 12 people die every day as a result of the campaign against illegal drugs.

The killings have reached such levels that the Senate has also scheduled hearings into the matter.

Dela Rosa for his part, said he would not allow policemen to be at the losing end on the war versus drugs.

While admitting that there have been some police officers involved in drugs, he said most are serious in their duty to free the country from the menace.

“We are at war. You don’t go to war if you are unprepared and half committed to the task ahead. We must be firm in our commitment and be deliberate in our actions. This also means that we must be ready to kill or be killed. There is no grey area on this matter,” he said.

According to the latest figures of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), some three million Filipinos are hooked on drugs. Recent operations by the PNP and other law enforcement agencies to document drug pushers and users, are believed to have only scratched the surface of the total drug using population.

The government had so far documented more than 140,000 drug users in the country.