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Some 4,410 drug personalities were killed for the past two years since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office and declared war on illegal drugs, according to government data.

This means that an average of six persons were killed daily during the past two years.

In the #RealNumbersPH Year 2 press conference in Malacanang, Philippine National Police Spokesperson Senior Supt. Benigno Durana Jr., however, said law enforcers have been trying their best to minimize the casualties during the past months in their anti-drug operations.

He noted that from July 1, 2016 to Oct. 25 of the same year, the average number of drug suspects killed was 105 per week or a total of 1,798 deaths.

From Oct. 26, 2016 to Jan. 30, 2017, there were 861 deaths or an average of 69 deaths per week. On March 1 to Oct. 10, 2017, 1,274 individuals died in the police operations or 39 deaths on the average per week. From Dec. 5, 2017 to Aug. 13 this year, 881 drug personalities died, or an average of 23 deaths per week.

"So meaning, we are improving, we are making sure that, you know, we are also are very sensitive?we are one in protecting and upholding human rights and constitutional rights not only of the accused but also of our law enforcers," Durana said.

He noted that 87 law enforcers have died and over 200 others have been injured in the drug operations.

"So just like in internal security operation, we lay down our lives; we?the enemies of the state were killed in the process as well. So this is not heaven, this is the real world that people will die in the process; that we have the authority to protect the rest of the Filipino people from the scourge of illegal drugs," the police spokesman stressed.

The Duterte administration has been criticized locally and abroad for the bloody war on drugs. But President Rodrigo Duterte, in his State of the Nation Address last July, vowed that the campaign against illegal drugs would be "relentless and chilling." Celerina Monte/DMS