2. A drug is any substance (with the exception of food
and water) which, when taken into the body, alters
the body’s function either physically and/or
psychologically. Drugs may be legal (e.g. alcohol,
caffeine and tobacco) or illegal (e.g. cannabis, ecstasy,
cocaine and heroin).
Psychoactive drugs affect the central nervous system
and alter a person's mood, thinking and behaviour.
Psychoactive drugs may be divided into four
categories: depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens
and 'other'.
What are drugs?
4. Large-scale extrajudicial violence as a crime
solution was a marker of Duterte’s 22-
year tenure as Mayor of Davao city and the
cornerstone of his presidential campaign. On
the eve of his May 9, 2016 election victory,
Duterte told a crowd of more than 300,000:
“If I make it to the presidential palace I will
do just what I did as mayor. You drug
pushers, holdup men, and do-nothings, you
better get out because I'll kill you.”
5. Since taking office on June 30, 2016, Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte has carried out a “war on
drugs” that has led to the deaths of over 12,000
Filipinos to date, mostly urban poor.
At least 2,555 of the killings have been attributed to
the Philippine National Police.
Duterte and other senior officials have instigated and
incited the killings in a campaign that could amount to
crimes against humanity.
7. END KILLINGS. Protesters from the Bantayog ng mga Bayani march
along Quezon Avenue for #DayOfProtest rally at the CHR. Photo by
LeAnne Jazul/Rappler
8. DEATH. A relative lights a candle to a tomb of Perola, a street sweeper,
who was killed in a drug raid in Manila. Photo by LeAnne Jazul/Rappler
9. Relatives weep as the coffin of an alleged thief and drug pusher, who
was a victim of an extrajudicial killing, is laid to rest on Aug. 21, 2016, in
Manila
10. At around 11 p.m. on July 25, Restituto
Castro received an anonymous text
message asking him to leave his house in
the Caloocan district of northern Manila
and come to the corner of the MacArthur
Highway.
11. Jennilyn Olayres, center, cries as she follows the hearse carrying the coffin of her
partner Michael Siaron during his burial at a cemetery in Manila on Aug. 3, 2016.
Siaron was killed by suspected vigilantes on July 22 acting on President Rodrigo
Duterte's call to kill all the country's alleged drug dealers
Noel Celis
12. “I don’t care about human rights, believe me”
Duterte got elected because he promised to be
tough on crime. But how bad is crime in the
Philippines, and is reducing it worth the
summary massacre that is now taking place?
13. Police examine the body of an alleged drug dealer and victim of a
summary execution on July 14, 2016, in Manila
14. In Manila’s south, Jenny, a young woman,
stands in a crowd of about 50 people,
surrounding her neighbor’s house at 2 a.m.
on a Saturday. Gunshots were heard just
over an hour ago, and the police emerge to
announce that the occupant, a man named
John Paul, has been killed.
15. Local residents transport the bodies of two men reportedly killed in a
drug raid in Manila on Aug. 18, 2016
16. “We don’t have to convince anybody anymore”
Extrajudicial killings are not new in the
Philippines. Historian Alfred McCoy — the
author of several books on modern Philippine
history — calculates that 3,257 people were
killed by the regime of dictator Ferdinand
Marcos, who ruled from 1965 to ’86, while
around 70,000 were imprisoned. (Duterte has
openly expressed admiration for Marcos, and
his decision to bury the former dictator at the
Heroes’ Cemetery in Manila led to the first
public protests since the former Davao mayor
took office.)
17. Residents of Makati in central Manila wait to take a pledge that they will
not use or sell shabu, or methamphetamine, again after surrendering to
police and government officials on Aug. 18, 2016
18. There are private rehab facilities, but most
are full. The Bridges of Hope facility, for
example, has room for just 92 patients
divided between its two Manila branches.
Its $650 monthly fee is well beyond the
means of the average Filipino, who earns
less than half that amount, but those that
can afford it are flocking to its doors.
19. This picture taken on July 21, 2016, shows inmates sleeping inside the Quezon City jail in Manila.
Philippine officials said on Aug. 9, 2016, the government would build new jails to address severe congestion
made worse by President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, describing conditions as "inhumane" and
"unacceptable"
This picture taken on July 21, 2016, shows inmates sleeping inside the Quezon City jail in Manila. Philippine
officials said on Aug. 9, 2016, the government would build new jails to address severe congestion made
worse by President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, describing conditions as "inhumane" and "unacceptable"
20. The maximum-security facility at
Manila’s New Bilibid Prison, where
Morales met TIME, currently houses
14,000 inmates in cells designed to house
no more than 6,000. Ironically, this is the
place — not the poor and shabby
barangays — from which the much of the
Philippine drug trade is conducted.
Duterte’s administration is aware of this.
The current Justice Secretary, Vitaliano
Aguirre II, estimated in June that 75% of
the country’s drug deals could be traced
back to New Bilibid.
21.
22. The head of the Catholic Church in the Philippines has harshly
criticized a government campaign of alleged extrajudicial killings of
drug suspects that has claimed thousands of lives, calling it a
"humanitarian concern" that cannot be ignored.
Police have killed an estimated 3,200 people in the past 14 months in
encounters they claim involved suspects who put up armed resistance.
Another 2,000 have died in drug-related killings – in many cases carried
out by motorcycle-riding masked gunmen who human rights groups
say are either police in disguise or their hired hit men. In a single day
last week, police in the Philippines killed a record 32 people in drug
raids, according to Reuters.
"We knock on the consciences of those who kill even the helpless,
especially those who cover their faces, to stop wasting human lives,"
Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle said. "The illegal drug problem should not
be reduced to a political or criminal issue. It is a humanitarian concern
that affects all of us."
Tagle was supported by Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who said Sunday
that church bells would ring every night for the next three months to
spark greater awareness of President Rodrigo Duterte's crackdown.
Church Leaders In Philippines Condemn
Bloody War On Drugs
23. As previously covered on the CIVICUS Monitor, President Rodrigo
Duterte's bloody fifteen-month war on drugs has left thousands of
people dead over alleged drug trafficking or use. Over a year since the
violent crackdown began in July 2016, on 12th October 2017 President
Duterte ordered the police to desist from the anti-drug operations,
leaving all future narcotics investigations to the smaller Philippine
Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). With human rights groups
claiming that between 7,000 and 12,000 people have died since July
2016, the cessation of police involvement in anti-drug operations has
been viewed as a modest step in the right direction.
Since assuming power, Duterte has provoked alarm among the
international community as a result of his brazen disregard for human
rights and threats against human rights defenders.
Public opinion against Duterte's war on drugs
intensifies in wake of continued killings
24. But duterte is a smart person,
because he covers all of it .
