MANILA - Malacañang on Saturday slammed a New York Times editorial which described the Philippines as the "deadliest place to resist rapacious developers and governments."

The editorial published on August 1 noted that "164 defenders of the land and environment were killed" in the country in 2018 alone.

"The editorial of the NYT is not surprising since the newspaper has been dishing out false information and untruthful narratives on the Philippine situation under the leadership of PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte)," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

"The NYT has the reckless habit of relying mainly on false facts regarding this Administration's campaign against illegal drugs and the causes of murders occurring in the land areas of the country, peddled by the communist rebels and their supporting left-leaning organizations, as well as the political opposition," he said.

The influential US paper based its claims on Britain-based human rights group Global Witness, which, Panelo said, did not note that some environmentalists were killed by rebel insurgents, not the government.

• READ: Philippines is world's deadliest nation for land rights: campaign group

It said Duterte, along with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, were "two of the new breed of populist leaders Global Witness identified as contributing to worsening the plight of those who defend the land, through their disdain for the environment and hostility to dissenters."

The study had shown that the Philippines recorded 30 deaths of land and environment defenders, and Brazil had 20.

Panelo said the NYT did not take into account how some officials and authorities had laid down their lives to protect land rights against communist control.

"It has not considered the fact that many of our local authorities, security forces, and even tribal leaders died protecting land rights against communist insurgents who want to control these areas," he said.

BRUTAL LEADER?

Panelo also criticized NYT for depicting Duterte as a "brutal" leader.

"The President is not brutal. He does not allow any law enforcer to use savage methods in enforcing the law," he said.

"In the Duterte presidency, very unlike in the past, following the law is not an option but requires absolute obedience to it. Either one obeys the law or he disobeys and he suffers the consequence of the disobedience," he said.

In April 2017, the NYT published an editorial urging the International Criminal Court to look into alleged mass killings under Duterte's drug war.

Duterte is facing cases before the tribunal, and he decided to pull the country out of the court.

• In scathing piece, New York Times urges ICC to stop Duterte

This prompted Duterte to say the NYT "must also stop."

• Duterte says NY Times must stop