In an opinion article written by Sir Rigoberto Tiglao of The Manila Times on March 20, online news agency Rappler allegedly was misinforming local and international media by presenting the wrong statistics on the Philippine National Police's (PNP) operations on Duterte's War On Drugs campaign.
The problem comes when Sir Rigoberto Tiglao, a well-known journalist, misinterpreted the numbers and did not recognize the context in which the article is grounded on.
Citing bullets from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) or the Philippine Press Institute's (PPI) codes of ethics will not be added in this review as this criticizes an opinion piece.
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| Screenshot of Rappler's article, updated regularly, to show the increasing numbers of casualties; from the police, civilians, and to the suspects. |
Rigoberto Tiglao understood that the 4,525 deaths reported were those under investigation and those concluded. However, he pressed that these numbers are not related to the Drug War. He argues that "deaths under investigation" or "investigations concluded" refer to all murders and homicides, "whether it is the result of road rage, robbery, or deadly love triangles— and not just those related to the anti-illegal drug campaign."
The War on Drugs does not simply refer to police operations but also to the period of time in which the campaign itself exists. The president had allegedly endorsed killing drug users to further his cause.
“I will announce publicly, as I’m doing now, ‘I have ordered the military and the police to kill the drug lords everywhere, anywhere they are seen, at any time.' I will just add a caveat: if they put up a violent resistance,” he said during a visit in Cebu City.
Breaking down the 7,080 reported deaths that Michael Bueza of Rappler has updated, there are 2, 555 drug personalities killed in police operations. 3, 603 cases were still under investigation and 922 cases were declared closed.
As of writing, Rappler has responded to Tiglao's article. (Tiglao's fake news)
Rappler has placed a separate statistic which is not labeled as related to the War on Drugs. On the photo below, this piece of information is named "EJKs [Extrajudicial killings], deaths under investigation" and has noticeably different set of numbers compared to that of the data on the War on Drugs from the PNP.
There are 4,146 number of murder cases outside police operations. 3,271 of those cases are "deaths under investigation" and 875 were already concluded.
Since this number is not similar to the combined 4,525 "victims in cases of deaths under investigation" and "victims in cases where investigation has concluded" it can be presumed that these does not refer to drug-related crimes but only to vigilantism and crimes in general.
It does not tie-back to the drug personalities nor the death toll of police operations on the Drug War. This is an assertion since both numbers are different. There's 3,603 and the other is 3,271 both from a January 9 data.
Tiglao has given the impression that he is ignorant of the lives taken in the Drug War. Among those 3,603 were alleged drug users whose carcass had placards placed beside them saying "Pusher/User ako. (I'm a drug user/pusher)" and even had tapes wrapped around their heads. Some were wrongly accused under the guise of partaking in the illegal drug trade. Some had packets of drugs implanted on the pockets of their clothes to "justify" the vigilantism.
What's wrong with Tiglao is that he is narrowly arguing and nitpicking on Rappler.
He keeps on insisting that the numbers wholly constitute as drug personalities killed in police operations and therefore giving his readers an idea that perhaps, Rappler and other news agencies are making it look like as if the police are violently operating in fulfillment of the president's campaign against criminality.
At the time of this update (03/23/2017), Tiglao has written another piece responding to the rebuttal written by Rappler. (Rappler insists on its ‘7,080-killed’ fake news; resorts to ad hominem arguments)
In order to avoid these senseless incidents, Rappler must clarify the depth of these numbers. Deaths resulting from legitimate police operations and "vigilante-style or unexplained killings" were aforementioned so what's the difference between the two statistics presented?
This question arises from the statement that "there had been over 7,000 deaths linked to the "war on drugs" – both from legitimate police operations and vigilante-style or unexplained killings," and then a subtopic was opened about "reports of extrajudicial, vigilante-style, or unexplained killings. Many of these cases are still being investigated by the police."
The separate statistics state: There are already 3,603 victims in cases of deaths under investigation (War on Drugs) and 3,271 number of cases/incidents of deaths under investigation (not related to the War on Drugs).
This review will be updated once the Pink Merman's inquiries have been verified.
(As of 03/23/2017, presumptions were verified and is now a valid claim. There is indeed a difference between the two separate statistics presented.)
IN NUMBERS: The Philippines' 'war on drugs'
How Rappler misled EU, Human Rights Watch, CNN, Time, BBC — the world
As of writing, Rappler has responded to Tiglao's article. (Tiglao's fake news)
Rappler has placed a separate statistic which is not labeled as related to the War on Drugs. On the photo below, this piece of information is named "EJKs [Extrajudicial killings], deaths under investigation" and has noticeably different set of numbers compared to that of the data on the War on Drugs from the PNP.
There are 4,146 number of murder cases outside police operations. 3,271 of those cases are "deaths under investigation" and 875 were already concluded.
Since this number is not similar to the combined 4,525 "victims in cases of deaths under investigation" and "victims in cases where investigation has concluded" it can be presumed that these does not refer to drug-related crimes but only to vigilantism and crimes in general.
It does not tie-back to the drug personalities nor the death toll of police operations on the Drug War. This is an assertion since both numbers are different. There's 3,603 and the other is 3,271 both from a January 9 data.
 |
| Screenshot of Rappler's article, updated regularly, to show the increasing numbers of casualties of extrajudicial killings. |
What's wrong with Tiglao is that he is narrowly arguing and nitpicking on Rappler.
He keeps on insisting that the numbers wholly constitute as drug personalities killed in police operations and therefore giving his readers an idea that perhaps, Rappler and other news agencies are making it look like as if the police are violently operating in fulfillment of the president's campaign against criminality.
At the time of this update (03/23/2017), Tiglao has written another piece responding to the rebuttal written by Rappler. (Rappler insists on its ‘7,080-killed’ fake news; resorts to ad hominem arguments)
In order to avoid these senseless incidents, Rappler must clarify the depth of these numbers. Deaths resulting from legitimate police operations and "vigilante-style or unexplained killings" were aforementioned so what's the difference between the two statistics presented?
This question arises from the statement that "there had been over 7,000 deaths linked to the "war on drugs" – both from legitimate police operations and vigilante-style or unexplained killings," and then a subtopic was opened about "reports of extrajudicial, vigilante-style, or unexplained killings. Many of these cases are still being investigated by the police."
The separate statistics state: There are already 3,603 victims in cases of deaths under investigation (War on Drugs) and 3,271 number of cases/incidents of deaths under investigation (not related to the War on Drugs).
This review will be updated once the Pink Merman's inquiries have been verified.
(As of 03/23/2017, presumptions were verified and is now a valid claim. There is indeed a difference between the two separate statistics presented.)
IN NUMBERS: The Philippines' 'war on drugs'
How Rappler misled EU, Human Rights Watch, CNN, Time, BBC — the world
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