Police have killed 89 more suspected illegal drug personalities across the country in just one week.
However, the figure does not include suspected pushers and users believed to have been executed by vigilantes.
The additional fatalities have increased the death toll in what was described to be a President Duterte-inspired war against illegal drugs to 192 since May 10 when his victory in the presidential race was already assured until July 10.
Region 4-A or Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) has the most number of fatalities with 57, followed by Central Luzon with 46.
Metro Manila was third with 21 but a recent figure released by the National Capital Region Police Office disclosed that a total of 43 illegal drugs personalities were killed from July 1 to July 12.
Central Mindanao had 19 fatalities, Southern Mindanao had 17, while Central Visayas had 14. The rest of the regions had below five fatalities except for Caraga, Eastern Visayas, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with zero.
Human rights groups and other sectors have raised alarm over the noticeable spike in killings. Police have said that the slain suspects were either fighting the lawmen or trying to grab their firearms while being led to the police station.
The Philippine National Police stood its ground and had the backing of Solicitor General Jose Calida who vowed to be the defender of policemen.
A total of 8,110 drug users and pushers were arrested from May 10 to July 10. On the other hand, a total of 35,276 surrendered to the police on the same period. (Aaron B. Recuenco)