President Duterte has again criticized groups spreading fake news about his war against drugs, including the controversial Pietà-like photo of slain drug suspect being cradled by a woman.
The President claimed that the photo of the drug suspect was “set up” to depict the police was behind the killing.
“You deserve that kind of sarcasm. Kayong mga… ‘yung mga nag-fake pati ‘yung Pietà nila na kunwari,” he said during his remarks in Davao City last Friday night.
“It was a set up actually. ‘Di naman totoo ‘yun eh. Ah, totoo lang ‘yan pero hindi ‘yun sabihin mo ‘yung actual na ano. It was almost like a directed,” he added.
The Philippine National Police has uncovered that a drug syndicate was behind the killing of Michael Siaron, the man in the viral image that was likened to the Pietà, Michaelangelo’s 15th sculpture depicting Virgin Mary carrying the dead Jesus Christ.
The photo, which claimed Siaron was shot dead by an unidentified gunman last July, triggered widespread debate on the cost of Duterte’s brutal war on drugs.
Following the release of the police findings, Malacañang said authorities have put closure on the death of Siaron. It said the Siaron case verified the government’s earlier claim that many of the killings were perpetuated by those involved in drug operations as well as drug traffickers and pushers eliminating each other.
Meanwhile, slightly fewer Filipinos believe that only the poor drug suspects are killed in the government’s anti-drug campaign in a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations.
In the non-commissioned survey conducted last Sept. 23 to 27 with 1,500 respondents, 54 percent agreed that “rich drug pushers are not killed; only the poor ones are killed (31 percent strongly agree, 23 percent somewhat agree).” Twenty-five percent disagreed (12 percent somewhat disagree, 13 percent strongly disagree) while 21 percent are undecided on the matter.
This translates to a net agreement score (percent agree minus percent disagree) of +29, classified by SWS as “moderately strong.”
It is eight points below and one grade down from the “very strong” +37 (60 percent agree, 23 percent disagree) in June 2017 survey. (Genalyn D. Kabiling and Ellalyn V. Ruiz)
