MANILA, Philippines — The Duterte administration intends to disprove allegations of documented and reported human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings in the face of renewed and resounding calls from the international community to address the issues, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Monday. It has never been a policy of this government and the PNP to violate human rights, much more judicial killings...we will continue to prosecute anyone who violate those rules, violate human rights of our Filipino citizens," he also said. 'Allegations from critics, leftist groups'The New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch also reported earlier in May that killings linked to the government's anti-narcotics campaign went on undisturbed by the coronavirus-induced quarantines. In response to this claim, Año said: “We have to verify [those claims]…Those are allegations from critics, from the leftist groups, from human rights groups. READ: 'Drug war' deaths rise amid coronavirus pandemic — int'l rights monitorIn a dispatch, HRW Asia division researcher Carlos Conde wrote: "Human Rights Watch analyzed the government’s statistics and found 155 persons were killed in the past four months.

Source: Philippine Star September 21, 2020 10:30 UTC