790 killings in the Philippines in 30 days
Daily average of 26 killings is lower than 31 killings average during former administration’s final year
By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY
A total of 790 killings were recorded from Sept. 16 to Oct. 15, according to records from the Philippine National Police explained Saturday.
According to data obtained by Rapper, a Philippine-based online news portal, the number of cases rose to 16,701 as of Oct. 15 – an increase of 790 homicide cases or an average of 26 killings per day took place for 30 days.
The Philippines police defined a homicide case or incident as the event where an assailant killed at least one
The data also excludes the number of law enforcers killed during operations, which as of Sept. 15 totaled to 85.
The latest average killings
Contrary to claims that drug-related killings top the recorded cases, the report showed that of the total 16,701 cases, only 14% or 2,269 are drug-related killings, 23% or 3,851 are non-drug related killings, while 63% 10,551 are still under investigation.
Leading the non-drug related killings with 57% or 1,801 cases are killings that stemmed from “heated arguments or misunderstanding" followed by 36% or 1,377 cases which arose from “personal grudge".
The motives of the remaining 7% of the non-drug related killings are personal gain, atrocities by threat groups, land dispute, revenge, jealousy, love triangle, self-defense, and three recorded cases of activist/media killings.
Following Duterte’s order to let the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) be the sole agency to carry out his administration’s “drug war”, the Philippine police vowed to focus its operations on preventing street crimes which include killings.