Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's War on Drugs


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.

Background:


  • Leading up to the election, Duterte proclaimed "All you who are into drugs, you sons of bitches, I will really kill you." 
  • As a mayor of the southern city of Davao, where he took a pathological approach to restoring order to the city’s streets. Extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals and drug users was common practice. 
  • He's claimed that he has personally killed drug users. 
  • Many support his policies and believe they are necessary to secure stability. 
  • Suspected drug users are not given due process.
  • Yet Filipinos knew what they were getting when they voted for Mr Duterte in 2016: the “death squad mayor” of Davao warned on the eve of the poll that drug dealers “better get out because I’ll kill you”. 
  • He won the presidential race with only 39%, his approval rating, currently at its lowest since he took office, stands at 75%. 
  • He has systematically dismantled the checks and balances that might have constrained him, or at least prompted some voters to think again. 
  • Senator Leila de Lima, who dared to open an investigation into the killings, was smeared and seized on highly dubious drugs charges. She is still in custody. 
  • There is growing international pressure to stop the war and hold Duterte accountable.
  • The 2017 killing of a 17 year old high school student enraged the nation, causing Duterte to temporarily end the police's role.
  • Recently a court found the three police officers guilty of the high school student's murder. The three police officers were sentenced to up to 40 years in prison by a Caloocan regional trial court on Thursday, the first guilty verdict in an extrajudicial killing in the 29-month anti-narcotics campaign, according to human rights advocates.
  • The killing continues and Duterte reinstated the police's role in the conflict.  

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