Ressa, Coronel and Rappler concocted false ‘27,000 killed’ number in anti-drug war
IT was astonishing to hear Rappler Chief Executive officer Maria Ressa claim in her recent interview with BBC’s Stephen Sackur — which was disastrous for her credibility — that “27,000” Filipinos were killed in President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.
She said that figure was according to the Philippine Commission on Human Rights.
I had thought that figure had long been proven wrong and buried six feet under. In fact saner anti-Duterte critics had stopped using that outrageously exaggerated figure.
Indeed, “human rights violations” has receded as an issue for the Yellows to beat President Duterte with since they couldn’t prove that the number of casualties in the anti-drug war has been excessive.
But Ressa’s insistence is an indication of delusion, a syndrome of insisting on a particular thing even if she is presented with concrete evidence that she is totally wrong.
The Philippine National Police’s (PNP) figures — done by an independent unit within the organization — reports only 5,655 “persons who died during anti-drug operations” from July 1, 2016 to March 21, 2020.
How credible is this figure?
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