An official of the Malacañang Palace accused New York Times reporter Daniel Berehulak of not doing thorough research.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar released a statement accusing New York Times reporter as one-sided on presenting issues in the Philippines.
Andanar on Monday accused Daniel Berehulak of not doing thorough research.
This is following the article which showed photos of murder victims where Berehulak talked about the police operations and vigilante killings that he documented within the 35 days that he was in the Philippines.
“There are two sides in every story,” Andanar said on Monday.
“The New York Times article [titled] ‘They are Slaughtering Us Like Animals,’ dated 7 December 2016 is totally one-sided as it depicts the Philippines as the Wild, Wild West in this part of the world,” Andanar added.
According to him, the presentation is farthest from the truth.
“If the reporter had bothered to check the facts of the 3,000 deaths under investigation by the Philippine National Police, only 1,080 are drug-related,” he said.
“The rest are murder and homicide cases perpetrated by gunmen which the Philippine National Police (PNP) is now investigating, the results of which will be made public in due time.”
According to the author, vigilantes seem to be “taking seriously Mr. Duterte’s call to ‘slaughter them all.’”
In response, Andanar insisted that the police had nothing to do with the homicide cases perpetrated by unidentified gunmen anywhere in the Philippines.
“The President has not given any direct order for them to kill drug dealers and users on mere suspicion. Police operatives only neutralize those who violently resist arrest, or else they could be the ones who end up dead,” he said.
The Communications Secretary also emphasized that “there are police officers who have already died or been killed in the war on drugs.”
“This demonstrates the magnitude of the drug problem in the country and the need for resolute and decisive response by law enforcement,” he said.