Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said there had been 11,000-16,000 killings per year under previous administrations, but a change in the definition of extra-judicial killings by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights and other critics of Duterte's policies had deceived the public.
Duterte was elected largely on a law-and-order platform in which he promised to eradicate illegal drugs by killing tens of thousands of people. [The Philippine delegation can] demolish whatever black propaganda the other critics have sown against the President because the facts and figures speak for themselves.
It stated that Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Commissioner Gwen Pimentel-Gana, who heads the task force on extrajudicial killings (EJK), has herself acknowledged that "in the absence of government policy, the alleged EJKs can not be considered state-sponsored".
Cayetano also said the drug problem in the Philippines was not a simple health issue - but a serious threat to the safety and security of the majority of Filipinos.
The Philippines' report was acknowledged by representatives of other United Nations member-states, but they also manifested their opposition to extrajudicial killings and called for an investigation on this phenomenon on Mr. Duterte's watch.
"Make no mistake, any death or killing is one too much". "However, there is a deliberate attempt to include all homicides as "EJKs" or killings related to the campaign against criminality and illegal drugs and that these are state-sponsored, which is absolutely not true".
A video clip of Duterte was also showed by Cayetano where the Philippine president was seen vowing to put "drug lords. below (the) ground".
Any such death was presumed legitimate under the law, but it was automatically subject of investigation, he said.
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He also said the Paris agreement was "bad for USA businesses" and that it gives "foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use".
Since then, police have reported killing 2,692 people in anti-drug operations.
"Law enforcement interventions aim to restore the rule of law, the cornerstone of governance and sustainable development, and can also influence the availability of drugs in illicit markets, not only by reducing supply through interdiction but also by increasing the risk for traffickers, which raises the price of drugs in consumer markets".
The U.N. scrutiny is likely to add to pressure on Duterte, and his domestic opponents will be able to cite it as global criticism of his policies.
Human Rights Watch applauded the "growing chorus of worldwide concern at the human cost of President Duterte's murderous 'war on drugs, '" in a statement from the group's Geneva direct John Fisher.
In a major report on the drug war in February, Amnesty International accused police of shooting defenceless people, paying assassins to murder addicts and stealing from those they killed.
"The Philippines is facing a growing chorus of global concern at the human cost of President Duterte's murderous "war on drugs".
China's ambassador Ma Zhaoxu congratulated Duterte's administration on its "remarkable achievements" in protecting human rights and said Beijing supported his "holistic campaign" against drugs. "The Human Rights Council should establish an global inquiry and, if killings without accountability continue, reconsider the Philippines" council membership", he said in a statement.
Germany's envoy called for the Philippines to take "all necessary measures" to stop extrajudicial killings, and the Vatican said reports of enforced disappearances were "deeply troubling".
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