On November 14, 2017, local time, a fire accident occurred at the Kalo Okaan Police Station in the Philippines, resulting in the burning of important files kept in the police station. It is reported that the file covers two teenagers killed in the anti-drug operation. (People's Vision/Photo)
Gemma Baran, 44, watched sadly as her husband's bones were packed into black plastic bags piece by piece.
Her husband, Patricio Baran, is a security guard. On July 9, 2017, at the age of 47, he was killed by unknown gunmen.
"Drug pushers and rapists." The gunman also left a mark next to Patricio's body. But Gemma said her husband had never taken drugs, let alone made or sold drugs, but had been involved in a land ownership dispute before he was killed.
What happened to Gemma's family is just the tip of the iceberg of the expansion of the Philippines' "war against drugs." Earlier figures from the Philippine National Police (PNP) showed that at least 6,248 "drug suspects" were killed in the country between July 2016 and April 2020.
Police statistics do not include drug-related people killed by "bounty hunters" and other innocent victims. But international organizations believe that 12,000 people have been killed in the 18 months since Rodrigo Duterte came to power alone. During his six-year tenure, this number exceeded 30,000.
On June 30, 2022, with Duterte officially stepping down as president, the "iron-blooded anti-drug" campaign he promoted was once again at a crossroads, and some family members even called for "rehabilitation" and "liquidation".
"Political creation"?
"I was really scared, I kept silent." Gemma was worried about the safety of her children, so she did not dare to investigate the real cause of her husband's death.
She moved her husband's body to a free cemetery as part of a paghilom project by the local church group. Gemma said that the original cemetery needed to pay more than 10,000 pesos, and the neglect of management caused some of the remains to be washed to the ground by the rain.
Father Flavie Villanueva, a local religious (Catholic) figure, was the initiator of the "Healing" project. "Duterte ordered 'Kill, Kill, Kill,' a state-sponsored directive that has created thousands of widows and orphans," he denounced publicly. ”
On June 30, 2016, Duterte was formally sworn in as the 16th president of the Philippines for a six-year term. The next day, Duterte launched a nationwide "war on drugs."
"Kill 100,000 people and throw the bodies into Manila Bay to feed the fish." Before his election, Duterte vowed to "kill the drug traffickers without mercy."
When Duterte took office, Gemma could hear gunshots coming from Manila's slums almost every night. Duterte authorized the police to shoot at suspected drug traffickers at any time and kill "uncooperative drug dealers" on the spot.
According to the Philippine Star, for more than a month, there have been people who have been killed on the street with signs that read, "I am a drug dealer, don't follow me, or this will be your fate."
At the same time, the Duterte administration dug deep into the "umbrella" of drug traffickers. At the Air Force celebration on July 5, 2016, Duterte announced the drug-related behavior of five senior police officers, three of whom were dismissed on the spot.
"If we don't, we're going to be drug politicians and drug terrorists." Ronald de la Rossa, then chief of the National Police, said, "Right now, we're thankful to have a 'kind' president. He is so tough that he is waging a zero-tolerance war on drugs. ”
The police chief, nicknamed "Stone," also worries that the Philippines is on the brink of drug politics, with many elected politicians using drug money as campaign funds.
The total population of the Philippines is about 110 million, and according to the data released by the National Police, there are more than 3.7 million drug addicts. Of these, 600,000 children and adolescents are involved in drugs.
According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA), at least 4.7 million people in the country are suspected of drug use, with an average of 1 person in every 8 households involved in drugs.
More than 92 percent of the Philippines' more than 42,000 townships are teilitarized, with the capital Manila being the hardest hit. Before the anti-drug campaign, drug dealers even blatantly peddled drugs on the streets.
Drug crimes are also combined with smuggling, kidnapping, robbery, gambling and human smuggling, and many military generals, parliamentarians and government officials act as umbrellas for drug dealers.
According to the 2015 National Drug Abuse Profile Survey published by the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Board, there are about 1.8 million drug users in the country, or 1.8 percent of the population. Among them, the drug prevalence rate among 10 to 69 years old is about 2.3%.
This is not serious compared to Western countries. In 2016, 15.6 per cent of Australia's population aged 14 and over had used illicit drugs in the past year. In 2018, about 11.7 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 12 had used illicit drugs in the past month.
For Duterte's public claim that "75 percent of serious crimes in the country are drug-related," the Philippine Police Department's Serious Crime Investigation and Detective Management Board released 15 percent, lower than the global average of 18 percent published by the United Nations.
The opposition has repeatedly accused Duterte of waging a "war on drugs" as a "political creation." He also launched the "People's Kill Drug Dealer" campaign and took the lead in using his campaign surplus funds for bounties. Usually, the arrest or killing of a drug lord receives a cash prize of 3 million pesos, which directly contributes to the prosperity of the "bounty hunter" industry.
Under the heavy punishment, the book results of the "war on drugs" also seem to be quite fruitful. According to data released by the National Police in December 2016, 5,882 drug-related personnel were killed in just six months, and more than 600,000 drug-related personnel were deterred and turned themselves in, and prisons around the country were overcrowded.
For a time, there was a congestion rate of 538% in prisons. Among them, the prison in Pulilan, Bulacan Province, has a 4-person cell holding 159 people; Throughout the country, an average of 63 prisoners are managed by 1 prison officer.
Controversy from "conscripted police officers" and "bounty hunters" to "extrajudicial executions"
The Duterte administration's "war on drugs" has also faced accusations of abusive violence and expanded law enforcement.
Starting in July 2021, Philippine forensic expert Raquel began testing the remains of some of those killed in the drug war. In April 2022, she released the results of her investigation: of the 46 dead, only 1 had their death certificates missing, many others had incomplete files, and 7 others had death certificates showing they had died from diseases such as sepsis, pneumonia and hypertension.
"There are doctors who gamble on their reputation, their reputation and their licenses to forge these death certificates." Raquel found that of the 46 bodies mentioned above, at least 32 died of gunshot wounds, including at least 24 shots in the head.
The victim who died of a shot in the head was marked as pneumonia, etc., and his family could not accept it but could not afford the cost of the autopsy. Some of the families of "drug dealers" admitted that they were killed despite the fact that they did use drugs but did not resist arrest.
Olaires' husband, Michael Siaron, rode a tricycle to earn a living as a odd worker, and the family often ran out of food. On the night of July 23, 2016, several unknown gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed Sialon, leaving behind a piece of cardboard with the words "drug dealer."
"He uses drugs, but he's not a drug dealer." The Philippine Star quoted Aurels as saying, "He also voted for Duterte in the May 9 election." ”
Several victims' families also suspect that the gunmen were from "volunteer police officers" and "civilian vigilantes" and that their "extrajudicial executions" were supported by Duterte. Between July 1 and 27, 2016 alone, at least 316 suspected drug traffickers were killed, 195 of whom, according to police statistics, were lynched.
In the documentary "On the President's Orders," a Manila police captain admits that the masked men killed by police officers. Duterte was also accused of encouraging "conscripted officers" to take the initiative to shoot.
"You could get shot. So, shoot first, because he (the drug dealer) will actually point a gun at you and then you will die. For me, I don't care about human rights... I will bear full legal responsibility. Before an anti-drug operation, Duterte called out to police officers.
The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHR) noted that more than 97 percent of police gun reports were concluded with "killing a suspect who resisted arrest." In the face of the allegations of indiscriminate killings, a spokesman for the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration responded, "I guess some police officers are born sharpshooters." They played very well, it was great. ”
In the 6-year war on drugs, only 3 police officers were convicted of killing drug suspects indiscriminately. Among them, an off-duty police officer argued with a neighbor and shot and killed the latter. The scene, recorded by video surveillance, caused public resentment in the Philippines to boil over, and the police officer was sentenced to life in prison.
The "bounty hunter" is also considered an important force in Duterte's war on drugs. On the streets of Manila, people on motorcycles, most of whom are "bounty hunters," roar past.
Each "bounty hunter" is represented by a police officer as a "boss, who is responsible for giving orders and providing information such as photographs of drug dealers. Within the stipulated time, the "bounty hunter" kills the drug dealer to receive the reward.
Before being elected president, Duterte served as mayor of Davao City, the largest city in southern Philippines, for 22 years. In the meantime, he used the police and militia to carry out an iron-blooded crackdown, turning Davao City from a "crime city" into "the ninth safest city in the world".
The Philippines allows citizens to legally possess firearms, and civilians own at least 600,000 guns. The addition of "bounty hunters" has greatly increased the efficiency of drug enforcement, but it has also led to the repeated occurrence of communiqués of personal vendettas and indiscriminate killing of innocents.
On October 29, 2021, local time, people in Manila, philippines, went to the cemetery to commemorate the victims of the Philippine "war on drugs". (People's Vision/Photo)
International controversy is loud and domestic support is high
In June 2020, the United Nations Human Rights Council released a report saying that Philippine police had "repeatedly seized firearms with the same serial number from different victims in different locations." This suggests that some of the victims were not armed with weapons at the time of their killing and were most likely framed.
"We have to think about whether we want to quit the United Nations, why should we listen to these fools?" Faced with accusations from the UN Human Rights Council, Duterte threatened to withdraw from the UN.
In September 2021, the ICC formally launched an investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed by Duterte's war on drugs. But the Philippine government replied that it had withdrawn from the ICC in March 2019.
Despite constant criticism, Duterte, who has been in power for six years, still has a broad public opinion base in the Philippines. For years, Duterte has existed as a "punisher" who breaks stereotypes and is affectionately called "Daddy Dieu" and "Daddy Duterte" by supporters for his tough style.
Beginning in 1977, at the age of 32, Duterte began his political career as a Davao City prosecutor, portraying himself as an "outsider" representing the interests of the "common people," rather than a political family like the Aquino and Marcos families.
However, in May 2022, Duterte's daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio won the vice presidential election with 57.04% of the vote and is highly likely to run for the 2028 presidential election, which is seen by the Philippine media as a continuation of Duterte's family politics.
"Mr. Duterte's legacy is so great that you'll have to count them for days." President Duterte spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
Politically, the Duterte government reached a peace deal with separatists in southern Mindanao, who laid down their arms in exchange for political autonomy; Economically, it has achieved results in reforming the tax system, relaxing restrictions on outward direct investment, and building infrastructure for large investments.
Duterte's ban on smoking in public places, his promise of free college education and a heavy crackdown on medical corruption have all been welcomed by the lower middle class in the Philippines, but the iron-blooded drug control has also left him with a mixed reputation.
At the peak of the anti-drug campaign in 2016, an average of 3.1 people lost their lives per day, according to a university of the Philippines, and in 2018 and 2021, that number dropped to 2.1 and 2.17.
Entering Duterte's "lame duck" period, an average of 1 person still dies every day in the war on drugs. The bloody anti-drug campaign still enjoys widespread public support, with pollster Social Weather Station showing that up to 85 percent of respondents are satisfied with the government's anti-drug performance, and 88 percent believe that the drug epidemic in the area where Duterte has lived since taking office has been cured.
But filipinos are also at odds, with 78 percent of respondents fearing they will be innocent victims of the predatory anti-drug campaign.
"Now is not my time"
Ofelia, who lives in Binyahan, a northern part of Manila, has found that life is neither getting better nor worse, but she is no longer seen taking drugs in her neighborhood.
It was once a high incidence of drug crime. According to data released by the Philippine National Police, the overall crime rate in the country has dropped by 31% since the Duterte government implemented the "iron-blooded drug control". Among them, robbery fell by 38.78% and theft fell by 43.97%.
In many places, people felt that the improvement in security was immediate, but the murder rate soared by 51%.
"The war on drugs has indeed raised the price of amphetamine-denominated drugs quite a bit, but many respondents continue to use other drugs." Gideon Lasco, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of the Philippines, argues that the expansion of the war on drugs has exacerbated public concerns.
Philippine public opinion is also increasingly polarized. There are film and television works such as "Lamentations for The Death of Medicine" that celebrate iron-blooded drug control, as well as criticisms such as "Private Law Detention" (Ma'Rosa).
On the day of Duterte's departure, the anti-drug war in the Philippines is no longer so bloody, and it has begun to focus on "dialogue, rehabilitation and education". In the final phase of Duterte's "drug war," in May 2022, the Philippine National Police implemented "Operation Dual Axis" to handle drug-related suspects more humanely.
Does iron-blooded drug control really work? In July 2022, the Philippine Star quoted an official from the Drug Enforcement Administration as saying that despite the bloody war on drugs, the executed people were mainly downstream "drug heads" and drug users, and did not touch the upstream of transnational drug trafficking networks and political umbrellas.
The Duterte administration's iron-blooded drug treatment has been criticized for its single and extreme means, although it can curb the drug epidemic in the short term, but the lack of effective comprehensive management measures and related supporting health, medical and judicial protections, it is difficult to fundamentally eliminate the social hidden dangers caused by Drugs in the Philippines.
Drugs have been combined with corruption and poverty as the three major chronic diseases of Filipino society, and their formation has complex reasons. Geographically, the Philippines is suitable for the growth of crops such as poppies, and the numerous islands and tortuous coastlines are also suitable for drug trade and drug dealers, and it is also a transit point for the drug trade in the Golden Triangle and Latin America.
The Philippines is heavily fragmented, with some local warlords, politicians, rebels, and local ethnic groups seeking political independence often viewing drugs as important pockets of money. In places like Luzon alone, the annual output of drugs is around $10 billion, equivalent to one-third of fiscal spending.
At the same time, a large number of poor people, due to their high unemployment rates, often sell drugs for a living and use drugs to escape reality.
On June 30, 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the late Philippine dictator and eponymous, was sworn in as the new president, inviting Duterte to continue leading the drug effort in the new administration. But Duterte politely refused, "Now is not my time." ”
Some groups of victims of the expansion of the drug control, as well as legal groups, have called for Duterte to be liquidated. New President Marcos Jr. has made it clear that he will not pursue Duterte for it, but he also seems to have no intention of continuing the duterte-era war on drugs.
Southern Weekend contributed to Liang Jiawen