Story highlights Philippines' senator tells UN the war on drugs has not led to a spike in extrajudicial killings

The reported numbers are due to changing definitions, says Cayetano

(CNN) A staunch ally of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told the UN Monday there has been no sudden wave of killings as a result of the nation's controversial war on drugs.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that reports to the contrary were based on "alternative facts" -- a term first coined by senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.

Cayetano said traditional media was no longer a source of news and information, and that "alternative facts" regarding Duterte's war on drugs had been spread by the opposition, reported widely locally and then "repeated by the Western media."

Since he came to power in June 2016, controversial strongman Duterte has faced widespread condemnation from human rights groups who claim he is inciting extrajudicial killings and stripping potential victims of their right to a fair trial.

Cayetano said that killings under previous administrations in the Philippines varied "from a low of 11,000 to a high of 16,000 per year," and a change in the definition of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) by the Philippines' Commission on Human Rights had deceived the public.

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