By Aaron Recuenco
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has solved more than 50 percent of cases of what it had classified to be death under investigation that include suspected drug pushers and users who were killed by vigilante groups.
This picture taken on October 29, 2016, shows police officers investigating a crime scene where two alleged drug dealers were gunned down by unidentified men in Manila.
(AFP PHOTO / Noel Celis / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The PNP leadership has already stopped providing information as to the number of what it earlier called as Death Under Investigation (DIU) but is now classified as Homicide Cases Under Investigation (HCUI). The last data given to the media pertaining to the number of deaths was in December last year.
But in a command conference of police commanders late last month, the number of HCUIs was at 22,981 from the start of drug war since July 2016 to May 21 this year across the country.
PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde disputed the almost 23,000 deaths as of last week of May and said it is bloated.
He, however, said that the PNP is doing big progress in solving all of the cases, including the recent incidents of suspected robbers and drug personalities whose cadavers were found along with placards printed with words of the crime being attributed to them.
“When I was the regional director of the National Capital Region Police Office, the DUIs I think more than 50 percent were solved. In other regions, more or less 50 percent of those cases are also being solved,” said Albayalde.
The figure on homicide cases under investigation, however, is already expected to be now at more than 23,000 following the series of killings that occurred especially in Metro Manila and nearby areas.
The homicide cases are separate from the more than 4,200 suspected drug personalities killed in police operations.