Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has criticised opposition party for allegedly inflating the death toll in the government’s ongoing crackdown on drug peddlers and users.

The president said the international community was being fed erroneous information to vilify his administration.

“Count the number of Filipinos — children, mothers, and fathers — killed since the advent of drugs. And they vary in number, they say that we killed 10,000 or 12,000,” Duterte said during the recent anniversary of the Philippine Constitution Association (PHILCONSA) in Manila. 


“Where do you get the facts? You just read newspapers and say, ‘This Duterte is a killer,’” he said. 


The President said figures provided by the political opposition (the Liberal Party and other anti-Duterte coalition groups) are far from the true numbers of fatalities in the anti-drug campaign.

Duterte said, in his first year as president, the number of anti-drug operations carried out by security forces had reached 70,854, with a total of 3,811 people killed during this period.

“These are legitimate encounters duly recorded,” he said, citing figures of the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

He said the number of law enforcement officers killed during encounters with drug suspects was indicative that the killings are not state sponsored.

“The number of police officers killed during operations has reached 85, while those wounded number 215,” he said, adding that he had to set the record straight on this matter if only to provide the people with accurate information.

Aside from policemen killed in the line of duty in the anti-drug drive, soldiers who died in similar operations number 146, while those wounded have been tallied at 2,592.

Various media groups have said the number of deaths in the war on drugs has reached 13,000, but Duterte disputed this. 


“Now, there are some countries which are insulting us to open our records to them, everything. Who are you to do that to my country? If you don’t believe our records, then go out and find something else to do. We do not fabricate,” he said. 


“And you say that we are killing our own countrymen? For what reason? ‘You enjoy slaughtering your own countrymen’?” he added.