PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs in Northern Mindanao has so far killed 30, all suspects shot dead in shoot-outs with police in anti-illegal drug operations.
The body count includes the two suspects killed Friday, September 30, in Barangay Macabalan, both gunned down by policemen following a sting operation.
The suspects, identified as Cliff Naqua and Jan Ben Rosagaran of Barangay Macabalan, were the 7th and 8th drug suspects killed in the city.
Northern Mindanao police spokesperson Superintendent Surki Sereñas said the 30 drug suspects were killed in police operations from July 1 to October 2.
Sereñas had earlier reported 178 killed ‘outside police operations’ as of September 8.
Out of 178, Sereñas said 59 were drug related, five were suspected to be drug related and 50 were non-drug related.
Sixty four cases out of the 178 killings have unknown motives, Sereñas said.
Data at the Northern Mindanao police office also show that police have so far mounted 335 drug bust or sting operations that resulted to the arrest of 701 drug personalities.
Cagayan de Oro City has the most number of arrested drug suspects with 324, trailed by Iligan City (120), Misamis Oriental (79), Bukidnon (68), Misamis Occidental (40), Lanao del Norte (32), and Camiguin (7).
Meanwhile, habitual drug users who responded to government’s ‘Tokhang' anti-drug campaign across the region have reached 76,798.
The province of Bukidnon recorded the highest number with 23,828, followed by Misamis Oriental (15,737), Misamis Occidental (14,479), Lanao del Norte (12,342), Cagayan de Oro City (5,307), Iligan City (4,605), and Camiguin (500).
Sereñas said police anti-drug operations will not let up in the coming months citing President Duterte's pronouncement that they are given authority to shoot should suspects resist arrest.
"If anyone prevents the police from doing their job, in this case armed resistance, to the point of endangering our police operatives, there is justifiable reason to use equivalent force to repel the attack or remove the resistance," Sereñas said.
Meanwhile, policemen engaged in operations will be getting additional pay.
The Duterte administration has increased to P3,000 per month the combat duty pay of the qualified members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said Thursday, last week.
The increase will be received starting this month, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno earlier said. The increase in allowance is separate from the salary increase as provided by Executive Order 201.
rFrom P500 per month, the Combat Duty Pay of the officers and enlisted personnel of the AFP and uniformed personnel of the PNP is increased to P3,000 per month. (With a report from Sunnex)