![]() And he’s done so despite the “straight path” anti-corruption platform of the previous administration of president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. But protest has been limited in the face of police terror directed primarily at the poor.ĭuterte has played to the deep resentments of those marginally better off after 15 years of solid economic growth. In a report about the widow of a victim of the anti-drug drive, reporter Jamela Alindogan of Al Jazeera, who has been a leader in the international coverage of the killings, summed up the view of many critics, noting there were fears that “ the war on drugs is a war against the poor.”įoreign human rights groups and most Western governments have been outspoken in their criticism as have some Philippine activist groups. ![]() Columbia University academic Sheila Coronel has called Duterte the “ bastard child of Philippine democracy.” And Duterte’s anti-drug policy left over 1,400 people dead there.ĭuterte used his “tough on crime” approach to win the May 2016 presidential election as a political outsider, promising to restore law and order with strongman rule. The name comes from the town where he was twice vice mayor (13) and thrice mayor (1988-1998, 16) before he became president Davao is the largest city in the conflict-torn southern island of Mindanao. Since becoming president in late June, Duterte has implemented his “Davao model” of giving police and vigilantes a license to kill drug suspects nationwide. ![]() He found the country’s President Juan Manuel Santos has been advocating a more humane solution to the problem. Showing death can imitate fiction, one Philippine commentator surmised police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who is responsible for the anti-drug campaign, was inspired by the television programme to fly to Colombia recently to find out how that South American country had “won” the war on drugs. Even so, there’s a growing fascination with such states in the country.įilipinos have become obsessed with the Netflix series Narcos about Colombia’s drug lord Pablo Escobar. (Czar Dancel/Reuters)Ĭrime has been linked to illicit drug use in the Philippines, but the country is certainly not about to degenerate into a “narco state.” No drug gangs are directly challenging the authority of the state as in Mexico, or Columbia before that. Jennilyn Olayres cradles the body of her partner, who was killed on a street by a vigilante group, according to police. The Philippine media reported that a man found lying in his own pool of blood stood up once he felt safe in the presence of reporters who came to cover the apparent killing. One case saw a suspected drug taker who “ rose from the dead” become inevitably associated with the TV zombie craze. There have been bizarre incidents among the bloodshed as well. President Duterte dismissed this case as “overdramatised,” suggesting one had to be hard hearted to “win” a war against drugs. A cardboard sign next to his body carried the chilling message Pusher ako, wag tularan (I’m a pusher, don’t do what I did). Photos taken by Raffy Lerma on July 23 of Jennilyn Olayres embracing her murdered partner, peddycab driver Michael Siaron, on the street became iconic as Filipinos immediately associated with Michaelango’s famous Pietà sculpture showing Mary cradling the crucified Jesus. A father and son caught smoking shabu, the most widely available methamphetamine in the country, were beaten and then shot dead while in police custody. A five-year-old girl was killed in late September after gunmen aiming to kill her grandfather opened fire. Not surprisingly, there have been reports of many heart-wrenching cases of violent death. The guilt of victims is assumed – never proven, seriously investigated, or even questioned. Their taped up bodies are left with a cardboard confessional sign strapped around their necks, saying “pusher” or “drug lord,” or dumped under a bridge or neighbouring town. In the Philippines’ so-called “war on drugs,” suspects die in “encounters” with police, are shot by motorcycle-riding vigilante gunmen, or are killed by trained and unofficial police death squads. About half of these extrajudicial killing are in the country’s capital Manila. But his popularity at home remains incredibly high – he seems to have his finger on the nation’s pulse.Įvery day during the first 100 days of Duterte’s administration, an average of 36 Filipinos have been killed. ![]() Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has attracted international condemnation with his violent crackdown on alleged drug takers and his dismissive attitude towards his country’s traditional allies.
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