Witnesses aren't the only ones who are permanently silenced. Lawyers whether representing crime victims or suspects are also being targeted by those who want to thwart the administration of justice.

Last Tuesday in Tacloban City, men on a motorcycle pulled up to a car driven by Rogelio Bato Jr. and opened fire with a rifle and a .45-caliber handgun. Bato and his companion, a 15-year-old girl, did not stand a chance. The gunmen escaped.

Bato was the lawyer of Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera town in Leyte. The mayor had been identified by President Duterte as one of the local government officials allegedly involved in drug trafficking. Espinosa pointed to his son Kerwin as the drug dealer. Kerwin is at large and believed to be abroad, but six of their family's bodyguards were also shot dead during a police raid on one of their homes after Espinosa presented himself to the Philippine National Police.

[continues 176 words]

THE wave of "terrifying" drug killings is an indication of lawlessness and not crime control, human rights group Amnesty International (AI) said on Wednesday.

The group issued the statement after Philippine National Police chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa informed the Senate that unidentified persons or groups have killed at least 1,067 people while the police shot dead more than 712 drug suspects in legitimate operations since July 1.

"[The killings] is a terrifying indication that the authorities are grossly failing in their obligations to respect and protect the right to life," Amnesty said.

[continues 534 words]

The United States is "deeply concerned" by reports of more deaths in the crackdown on illegal drugs in the Philippines, with US State Department spokesman Mark Toner urging the Duterte administration to ensure law enforcers observe human rights norms.

The US voiced its concern after Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa told a Senate panel on Monday that 712 drug traffickers and users had been killed in police operations since July 1. Malacanang said it respects the US's expressing such concern.

[continues 531 words]

But "meth," or methamphetamine hydrochloride, short for shabu, is something else, the President pointed out.

Shabu addicts were initially described as the "living dead" by President Rodrigo Duterte when he made an impassioned speech last week in defense of his administration's deadly literally campaign against illegal drugs.

A few days later, President Duterte called these shabu dependents as the "walking dead" in our midst. Perhaps, the President was able to watch last week the first episode of the popular "Walking Dead" TV series now being locally carried at TV5 every Thursday night. "Walking Dead" is a fictional apocalyptic weekly series in US setting where zombies, or the undead, prey and feed upon human beings.

[continues 962 words]

SOME Filipinos view the recent surge in drug-related killings as a "necessary evil in pursuit of greater good," according to President Duterte's chief economic adviser.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia yesterday admitted that the impression of the international business community on Mr. Duterte's approach in stemming illegal drugs may affect the country's business environment.

The economics professor from the University of the Philippines urged the media to interview individuals who were supportive of the President's war on drugs.

[continues 244 words]

MANILA - The soaring number of killings by the police in the Philippines is being caused by drug suspects who choose to battle officers instead of surrendering, the nation's top police official told lawmakers on Tuesday.

"If they did not fight it out with police, they would be alive," said the national police chief, Ronald dela Rosa, who is heading the country's deadly antidrug war.

He said the number of deaths since the campaign began on July 1 had jumped to 1,916 - 137 more than the figure he gave senators on Monday, the first of two days of hearings devoted to the killings. He said on Tuesday that reports of killings came in daily from police units around the country. "As I was presenting yesterday," he said, "there were people killed."

[continues 725 words]

The witnesses' narratives had a common thread: the victims were low-level drug pushers silenced by corrupt law enforcers who were either their protectors or suppliers in the illegal drug trade.

This emerged at the first Senate hearing on extrajudicial killings led by the committee on justice and human rights, chaired by Sen. Leila de Lima, and the committee on public order and illegal drugs chaired by Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa told the joint hearing that as of yesterday, the PNP had tallied 712 suspects killed in legitimate operations, of whom 269 were reported in Metro Manila, since the Duterte administration launched its war on drugs on July 1.

[continues 1018 words]

MANILA - Killings by the police and vigilantes in the Philippines' war on drugs have soared to nearly 1,800 in the seven weeks since President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into office, the nation's top police official told a Senate hearing on Monday.

Under Duterte, who campaigned on a pledge to rid the country of drug dealers, 712 suspects have been killed in police operations, National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa said. Vigilante killings have totaled 1,067 during the same period, he said, although it was unclear how many were directly related to the illegal drug trade.

[continues 548 words]

MANILA, Philippines - Killings by the police and vigilantes in the Philippines' war on drugs have soared to nearly 1,800 in the seven weeks since President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into office, the nation's top police official told a Senate hearing on Monday.

Under Duterte, who campaigned on a pledge to rid the country of drug dealers, 712 suspects have been killed in police operations, National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa said. Vigilante killings have totaled 1,067 during the same period, he said, although it was unclear how many were directly related to the illegal drug trade.

[continues 175 words]

MANILA - Killings by the police and vigilantes in the Philippines' war on drugs have soared to nearly 1,800 in the seven weeks since President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into office, the nation's top police official told a Senate hearing on Monday.

Under Mr. Duterte, who campaigned on a pledge to rid the country of drug dealers, 712 suspects have been killed in police operations, National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa said. Vigilante killings have totaled 1,067 during the same period, he said, although it was unclear how many were directly related to the illegal drug trade.

[continues 964 words]

ALL FILIPINOS, whether public officials or ordinary citizens, have the right to due process. It is a human right guaranteed by the Philippine Constitution that President Duterte swore to uphold and defend.

It is sorely disappointing to see the President disregard this constitutional right as he voices no objection to the killing of suspected drug pushers by the police or by vigilantes, and accuses police officers, local executives, judges and other officials of being drug lords or their protectors without the benefit of a thorough, completed criminal investigation. Without presenting solid evidence to back up his public allegations, President Duterte, the most powerful public official of our land, has embarked on a chilling, sickening name-and-shame campaign that is in effect an unjust, unlawful and unconstitutional trial by publicity.

[continues 666 words]

THE Senate opens today an inquiry into the ongoing anti-drugs campaign of the Duterte administration which has already resulted in hundreds of deaths, thousands of arrests, and tens of thousands of surrenders of both pushers and users. Over 800 had already been killed by the middle of last month and the figure continues to grow, raising fears of human rights violations.

In the last few days, there have been considerable fireworks around the person of Sen. Leila de Lima, whose Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights is to conduct the inquiry. President Duterte has accused her of having an affair with her driver who allegedly collected drug money for her inside the New Bilibid Prison. Last Friday, she called most of the charges "lies, distortions, and exaggerations," but did admit some of it were true "may kaunting totoo."

[continues 337 words]

Resents Criticisms of His Antidrug War

PRESIDENT Duterte yesterday threatened to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations as he launched another profanity-laced tirade against the world body for criticizing his ruthless war on drugs.

More than 1,500 people have been killed since Mr. Duterte took office on June 30 and immediately launched a take-noprisoners crackdown on illegal drugs, drawing fierce criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups.

A lawyer notorious for an acid tongue, Mr. Duterte has repeatedly told the United Nations not to interfere, calling the world body "stupid" for its criticisms.

[continues 964 words]

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte's campaign promise to stop crime and corruption in six months must be pressuring the police into killing X-number of suspects by his 50th day in office, his 100th, and so forth, in a bloody race to meet the quotas by deadline time.

The Commander's shoot-to-kill order (if the suspect fights back, kuno) has seen many police officers committing their first murder, executing suspects whose guilt has not been established and who in some instances were begging for their lives.

[continues 588 words]

Malacanang yesterday criticized as "baseless and reckless" a United Nations statement that President Duterte's bloody war on drugs amounted to a crime under international law.

Duterte's chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo told AFP the administration was not behind the extrajudicial killings targeting alleged criminal suspects, challenging UN human rights experts to visit the Philippines and investigate.

Two UN rights experts said Thursday that Duterte's directives calling on law enforcers and the public to kill suspected drug traffickers "amount to incitement to violence and killing, a crime under international law."

[continues 341 words]

They are also right in calling for divine intervention in the lives of addicts so they may find strength in shaking off their dependency on drugs. No doubt prayer works, but there is no secret formula that could bring about the change everybody wants to see the easy way the elimination of the drug menace in the country. Such major surgery involves searing pain.

THE time to get involved in the affairs of this country is now, and the evangelicals are on the right track in coming up with a pastoral letter that supports the campaign against the drug menace while condemning the unwarranted killings of addicts and pushers.

[continues 359 words]

THE WAR of words between President Duterte and the United Nations escalated on Thursday, with a UN envoy warning that "state actors" could be held responsible over hundreds of killings in the government's controversial crackdown on illegal drugs.

Challenged by presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo to come over and see for herself the real situation, UN special rapporteur on summary executions Agnes Callamard tweeted on Friday: "Invitation to investigate welcomed. Ready to 'see for myself.'"

In a statement, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that the "seeming incomprehension by local and international observers" was "more alarming than the pandemic use and trade of illegal drugs in the Philippines."

[continues 762 words]

The person accused of wrongdoing is a senator, and it is his duty, President Duterte said, to tell the truth to the nation. On Wednesday he hurled serious accusations against Sen. Leila de Lima, saying she had an affair with her married driver who collected drug payola from convicts at the New Bilibid Prison.

While the President said he was not sure if the drug money was forwarded to De Lima when she was the secretary of justice, he added that this seemed to be the case. The story about the driver is not new. As early as 2014, jueteng whistleblower Sandra Cam had alleged that the driver, identified as Ronnie Palisoc Dayan, had been made an employee of the Department of Justice and was acting as an influence peddler in the DOJ and its attached agencies.

[continues 239 words]

IT'S easy to dismiss the search for justice by the mother of suspected drug lord Alvaro "Barok" Alvaro for her other son Medz, who was shot dead by policemen in a buy-bust operation in Danao City last Aug. 11. Also killed in that operation was Medz's alleged cohort, Ronnie Castro.

For believers in the method used by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte in its campaign against the illegal drugs trade, relatives of Medz and Castro have lost their right to question the manner of their death because of their supposed involvement in criminal acts. But Emma Alvaro has as much a right to seek an investigation of the incident as relatives of victims of vehicular accidents.

[continues 273 words]

MANILA - Even amid the slaughter of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, the killings of Renato and Jaypee Bertes stand out.

The Bertes men, father and son, shared a tiny, concrete room with six other people in a metropolitan Manila slum, working odd jobs when they could find them. Both smoked shabu, a cheap form of methamphetamine that has become a scourge in the Philippines. Sometimes Jaypee Bertes sold it in small amounts, relatives said.

So it was unsurprising when the police raided their room last month.

[continues 1297 words]