PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) Chief Oscar Albayalde downplayed on Monday, July 15, the analysis of a United States-based crisis mapping project that the Philippines is the fourth most dangerous country for civilians.
“I think that is unfounded. That cannot be covered by data. I really do not know kung ano ang basehan nila where in fact kalalabas lang ng survey ‘yung HSBC expats na 24th tayo on the safest country to live, work and do business (in). Natalo pa natin ang China,” he said.
(I really do not know what the basis is. An HSBC survey released recently ranked the Philippines the 24th safest country to live, work and do business in. We even bested China.)
Albayalde was referring to the 2019 Expat Explorer Survey by HSBC, which showed the Philippines moving up four notches to 24th place from 28th in 2018.
Read: Philippines ranks 24th among best countries for expats
“They probably based ‘yung mga sinasabi nila base lang doon sa naninira lang din na unfortunately na kapwa rin natin Filipino ang naninira sa ating bansa na kung ano-ano ang sinasabi nila sa ibang bansa kaya nagkakaroon ng maling interpretation at paniniwala sa ating bansa. That's why we challenge these people to come here and live here and see for themselves how peaceful the Philippines is,” he added.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Project (Acled) said their analysis was based on the government’s war on drugs which resulted in the killing of thousands of drug personalities.
“President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has driven this violence, with alleged drug suspects accounting for almost 75 percent of this year’s civilian deaths,” it said.
The remaining 25 percent, according to Acled was due to political killings.
“In addition to operations against drug suspects, political rivalries drive anti-civilian violence in the country as well,” Acled said.
Albayalde, however, noted that government critics emphasize the deaths related to the drug war but not the arrests made by the law enforcers.
“Of course in our drug war merong namatay but then bakit hindi nila i-highlight ito na aming naaresto na more than 257,000 arrest compared to the 6,600 deaths in police operations? This is a mere 2.6 percent compared to the arrest that we made. Bakit hindi nila highlight ‘yung internal cleansing na ginagawa namin? Bakit hindi nila highlight ‘yung pagdemanda namin sa sarili naming pulis na umaabuso at nakita natin na gumawa ng irregularity in police operations?” he said.
(Of course, there are fatalities in our drug war. But why don’t they highlight the more than 257,000 arrests that we made compared to the 6,600 deaths? This is a mere 2.6 percent of the arrests. Why don’t they highlight our internal cleansing program?) (SunStar Philippines)