MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police in Metro Manila on Tuesday said that it has not recovered bodies of suspected drug suspects in Manila Bay since the government’s war on drugs began more than a year ago, disputing a report by an international broadcaster that bodies are being dumped there.
Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde, National Capital Region Police director, said they had not received reports of bodies being recovered from Manila Bay, the iconic body of water west of the capital city where President Rodrigo Duterte promised to dump the remains of suspected drug users and peddlers.
“I don’t know where they got that information. Since the start of the war on drugs, wala pa tayong na-recover na patay sa Manila Bay,” the capital's police chief said in a media conference at the presidential palace.
Albayalde was responding to a question on a report by Al Jazeera, a Doha-based broadcaster.
According to the broadcast network, Philippine police hired fishermen to dump bodies in Manila Bay as part of the country’s drug war which has killed thousands and earned the Philippines domestic and international condemnation. The drug war remains popular among the president's supporters.
The bodies, called “trash” by authorities, were dumped along highways and in Manila Bay, the report said.
Al Jazeera interviewed one fisherman alleged contacted by police to do the dumping.
“The police are the ones coming to my house ordering me to take out trash,” Manuel, a local fisherman who said he has dumped 20 bodies, said.
Manuel said that they would put weights on the bodies to keep them from floating to the surface.
In one instance, Manuel was ordered to dispose of the body of a friend, the broadcaster said.
Duterte, who has spearheaded the government’s war on drugs, promised to make the fish in Manila Bay fatter through the bodies of dead criminals he would dump there.
Local and international human rights groups have criticized the government’s campaign.
They claim that more than 7,000 individuals had been killed by the drug war, an assertion that the government has disputed.
Government officials said that the figure is much lower, and many of the recorded deaths were still under investigation. However, results yet of these probes have yet to be made public, months after authorities announced them.