In President Rodrigo Duterte's Philippines, the police, with his explicit support, have killed thousands of alleged drug dealers and users without due process, some while they were in jail, or asleep, or at home with their families. They allegedly shot a 17-year-old while he was in custody, then dumped his remains in an alley. The youngest victim was 4. Human rights groups, the U.S. Congress, the European Union and the United Nations have all condemned Duterte's "war on drugs." Yet when President Trump meets Duterte in Manila, it probably won't enter the conversation. [continues 1205 words]
MANILA -- When investigators from the Philippine Commission on Human Rights first arrived at Police Station No. 1, nothing seemed amiss. They were working a tip about people being plucked from the slums by police, held captive and ransomed for money at the station. But as they surveyed the office of the local anti-drug unit, things looked normal: desks, two sofas, a bookshelf. Officers kept glancing at the bookshelf. With news cameras rolling and police looking on, an investigator knocked on it. Someone knocked back. When the false door was finally opened, they found a dozen people packed in a small, concrete cell, one bloodied, one with a swollen jaw. [continues 1077 words]
MANILA - Every morning before dawn, Rosario Perez checks to make sure her sons are still alive. The three brothers, all in their 20s, sleep at the houses of friends and relatives, moving regularly, hoping that whoever may have been assigned to kill them won't catch up with them. They are not witnesses on a mob hit list, or gang members hiding from rivals. They are simply young men living in the Philippines of President Rodrigo Duterte. "How could I not send them to hide?" said Ms. Perez, 47, after peeking in on two of her sons and phoning the third. "We can barely sleep out of fear." [continues 1213 words]
DAVAO CITY, Philippines - Gen. Ronald dela Rosa, chief of the Philippine National Police, knows the value of a public display of remorse. He has been forced to apologize more than once. He was wrong, he acknowledged before the Philippine Senate as TV cameras rolled, to have trusted undisciplined policemen who killed a small-town mayor suspected of dealing drugs, as the mayor lay defenseless on a jail-cell floor. "I cannot blame the public if they're losing their trust and confidence in their police," he told the Senate panel, accepting a tissue from the mayor's son to wipe away his tears. [continues 1245 words]
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs would not be affected by the abduction-slay of a South Korean businessman by the anti-drug police operatives, his chief legal counsel said. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Duterte would not allow any members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to further commit irregularities. Panelo said the Chief Executive would make sure that the police officials involved in the killing of Hanjin executive Jee Ick-joo would face legal consequences. "Regarding the murdered Korean businessman, the President will not tolerate any police abuse. All these police scalawags will be dealt with and prosecuted to the fullest under the law," Panelo said in a chance interview. [continues 230 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- A US newspaper called on Washington to make sure that US aid to the Philippines is not used for President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial ran weeks before the kidnap-for-ransom-murder of a South Korean expatriate in the hands of Philippine National Police officers -- in the guise of an anti-drug operation--came to light and triggered an international outcry. The Post-Gazette editorialized on Jan. 2 that "Even in a roomful of tinhorn dictators, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines would out." [continues 215 words]
In this Sept. 15, 2016 file photo, President Rodrigo Duterte shows documents containing the names of politicians, judges, and law enforcers involved in illegal drugs during his visit to Camp Tecson in Bulacan. (PPD/King Rodriguez) CABANATUAN CITY - How can the Catholic clergy understand the seriousness of the drug problem? They should try shabu. A joking President Duterte floated the proposal here on Wednesday as scored the Church anew for its supposed hypocrisy and pretensions. The Roman Catholic Church, the faith of more than 80 percent of Filipinos, has been vocal in expressing concerns over the spate of killings linked to Duterte's brutal war on drugs. More than 6,000 suspected drug offenders have been killed since Duterte assumed the presidency. [continues 382 words]
[photo] In this Nov. 26, 2016 photo, President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he delivers his keynote address during the San Beda College of Law Alumni Homecoming at the Shangri-La Hotel in Taguig City. (PPD/King Rodriguez) MANILA, Philippines - President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday dug up old controversies including the so-called Pajero scandal and clergy sexual abuse in his latest tirade against the Catholic Church, which has been raising concerns over the spate of killings linked to his war on drugs. [continues 716 words]
President Rodrigo Duterte said no one could stop him from imposing martial law. PPD/Ace Morandante MANILA, Philippines -- President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday evening said that if the drug problem in the country worsens, he would declare martial law. Duterte said that no one could stop him from imposing martial law if the country's situation becomes "virulent," citing that he does not care about the Supreme Court. "Kung gusto ko at if it will deteriorate into something really very virulent, I will declare martial law if I wanted to. Walang makapigil sa akin," Duterte said in a speech during the 49th annual installation of officers and board of trustees of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Incorporated. [continues 339 words]
Also Threatens To Kill Governors, Bomb Kidnappers PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday denied claims he wants to declare martial law to extend his term in office. But Duterte talked tough, threatening to kill provincial governors involved in drugs after saying the same to mayors last week, and ordered security forces to bomb kidnap gangs even if they held hostages. Speaking before the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the President stressed he had no ambition to prolong his stay in power. [continues 527 words]
SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez yesterday said two incumbent members of the House of Representatives are included in President Duterte's list of politicians who are allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade. He said he received him a copy of the validated list last month. "Iyung listahan na ibinigay sa akin, validated, ibig sabihin marami nang ahensiya ang pinanggalingan pero on my part dino-double check ko pa rin," Alvarez told a press conference. He refused to identify the two lawmakers or even say their gender, but said he is convinced of the involvement of one of the two who is a fellow Mindanaoan. [continues 163 words]
MANILA, Philippines - After confronting mayors with alleged ties to the narcotics trade, President Rodrigo Duterte wants to meet with governors to discuss the drug problem as he stressed that he would not back down on his campaign even if it costs him his position. "I'd be calling the governors next week. I'd really tell them. You tell your barangay captains, you have supervisory powers cities under you, those that are not yet charter cities, you tell the mayors," the president told businessmen in Davao City Saturday night. [continues 284 words]
The 81 barangays in Cebu Province that were initially declared by the police as drug-free are still subject for validation, a top-ranking official said Tuesday, January 3. Chief Superintendent Noli Talino, Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas director, said that it is up to the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) to declare a barangay free from drugs. "Yung sa amin, hindi pa naman final yung report ng Cebu Province. Ang sabi ko sa kanila for recommendation as a drug-free barangay pero hindi pa final yun. Ipapa-validate pa natin 'yun (For our part, the report from the Cebu Province is not yet final. What I told them was only to submit a recommendation of drug-free barangays but these are not yet final. This (recommendation) will still be validated," said Talino. "So if I will not approve it then it's back to zero." [continues 158 words]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, a tough-talking populist who took office in June, has earned international condemnation for ordering or encouraging thousands of extrajudicial killings intended to rid the country of illegal drugs and bragging about personally having killed people. But at home, he remains extremely popular, with approval ratings topping 60%, and firmly in command, with his supporters controlling Congress, the courts and the police and military. His detractors have found some hope in an unlikely figure: the vice president. [continues 1430 words]
MANILA, Philippines -- An average of 30 people have been killed daily in the past 167 days under the Duterte administration's intensified campaign against criminality, especially the illegal drug trade. Records from the Philippine National Police (PNP) showed 2,102 drug pushers and users killed after allegedly fighting it out with police, and 2,886 others getting killed under sketchy circumstances and whose cases are listed as "death under investigation" or DUI. The reported deaths totaled 4,988 in less than six months. [continues 414 words]
In war, there is collateral damage. In the case of the vicious war on illegal drugs, President Duterte acknowledged last week that there have been "unintended killings" that have claimed the lives of innocents including children. In fact practically everyone killed in the drug war was legally innocent since guilt beyond reasonable doubt was never established in court, and most of the slain weren't even indicted. For the unintended killings, the President said he's sorry, although he made it clear that it would not stop his relentless war. Such a cavalier attitude toward human life is likely to rub off on the forces fighting the drug menace, making them careless about hitting innocents in the crossfire. It can encourage them to continue disregarding laws and rules on armed confrontations and the conduct of arrests and searches. [continues 223 words]
MANILA, Philippines - Maaaring magkaroon din sa Pilipinas ng mga asylum para sa mga adik na tuluyan ng nasira ang ulo dahil sa paggamit ng ilegal na droga partikular ng shabu. Ito ang sinabi ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte kaugnay ng mga adik na hindi na kayang i-rehabilitate dahil lumiit na ang utak sa matagal na paggamit ng shabu. "If the brain is shrunk and it was your forensics who told us that that is the case. They have conducted the --- and almost all of them have shrunk brains," ani Duterte. [continues 114 words]
No matter how the questions were rephrased, the President stuck to his guns in his replies on his much criticized campaign against illegal drugs. For a man who made a campaign vow to bring genuine change in the country, it may come strange. For his new year's resolution, President Rodrigo Duterte promises no change in his administration's offensive campaign against illegal drugs. President Duterte though already publicly declared "sorry for the unintended" killing of innocent by-standers in his administration's deadly war against illegal drugs. But President Duterte vows to continue the anti-drug campaign despite the alleged extra-judicial killing controversies that hounded him in his first six months into office. [continues 1002 words]
WITH five more barangays in the city still drug-affected, Mayor Belen Fernandez said the drug clearing operations by the police and barangay officials will continue even during the holidays, until Dagupan City is 100 percent drug free. So far, 26 of the 31 barangays have already been declared drug-free. The five barangays yet to be cleared are Lasip Chico, Pantal, Barangay 2&3, Calmay and Pugaro. At the same time, she said the SURE program launched by the city government for drug users who surrendered is also continuing. [continues 103 words]
MANILA, Philippines -- Three American senators asked the US Department of State to explain the use of funding aid in the Philippines to make sure the money is not being used for the government's war on drugs. US Senators Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts), Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Christopher Coons (D-Delaware) have expressed grave concern over alleged extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in the country under the President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-narcotics campaign. "The Philippine anti-drug movement known as Project [Tokhang] in fact appears to be a campaign of mass atrocities thinly disguised as a response to a public health emergency," the senators said in a letter addressed to US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Assistant Secretary William Brownfield. [continues 501 words]
Authorities in the Philippines say a series of drugs raids have netted nearly a tonne of methamphetamine, with a street value of UKP#120m ($147m). Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said the haul was the biggest in the country's history. Mr Aguirre said 10 people had been charged. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has pursued a bloody war on drugs since taking office six months ago, encouraging police to shoot on site. More than 6,000 drug users and dealers are suspected to have been killed by both police and vigilantes since the crackdown began. [continues 193 words]
Hooded killers have turned the bloody anti-illegal drug war of the Duterte government into an art form. That's no exaggeration. One stark evidence is the front-page photograph by Raffy Lerma -- a sidestreet Filipino Pieta -- that shows a grieving wife, rain-soaked and in rags, cradling her bloodied freshly murdered husband. This picture also threatens to be the emblem of the Duterte regime's deathly drive against illegal drugs. Last weekend, this grim theme dimmed a bit with the start of the dawn masses, the Simbang Gabi, that also ushered in the official period of holiday caroling, a season of good tidings. [continues 319 words]
SECRETARY of Justice Vitaliano N. Aguirre II surmises that the government is winning its controversial war on drugs as he, together with officials of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), presented yesterday evidence of what he called the "biggest drug bust" so far in the country. "Malamang sa malamang, nananalo na tayo. (It's more than likely, we are winning)," the secretary told reporters when asked for his assessment on whether the government is winning in its drug campaign that has been strongly criticized for the alleged rise in extra-judicial killings that it has spawned. [continues 484 words]
Dagupan City's War On Drugs THERE are still 26 barangays deemed drug-clear, and five more to be worked on, the list has been changed and corrected by City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, as chair of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Coordinating Council (CADACC). Mayor Belen Fernandez, as chair of the City Anti-Drug Abuse Coordinating Council (CADACC) signed the certification affirming earlier declarations by the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils that their respective villages are now cleared of illegal drugs. [continues 375 words]
At 4:50 a.m., the stragglers dashed through Manila's darkened streets, hoping for a spot in the pews. But they were too late. Hundreds of worshipers had already packed the Sto. Nino de Paz Community Greenbelt Chapel, a low, white dome in a sprawling outdoor shopping complex, for Friday's Simbang Gabi Christmas Mass. So at least 100 more crowded on the pavement outside, singing "Glory to God" beneath a crisp crescent moon. Christmas in the Philippines is a long, spirited and, to many, exhausting affair. About 90% of Filipinos are Christian, and they take the holiday seriously. Stores start playing Christmas music as early as September and don't stop until early January. Christmas trees spring up in malls and public parks. Carolers go door to door singing "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night" and "Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit", a lively Tagalog tune celebrating Jesus' birth. The holiday delicacy is lechon - -- whole suckling pig, a Filipino delicacy. [continues 868 words]
MANILA - Rayzabell Bongol, an 18-year-old mother and methamphetamine user, was afraid to die in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs in the Philippines. So she turned herself in to the police. They made her sign a pledge that she would never take illegal drugs again, then sent her home. Once a week now, she is expected to attend a police-sponsored Zumba dance workout, where she gets a health check and a meal. Mr. Duterte "promised change," she said at a recent class as three dozen other recovering addicts bopped and swayed to a blaring Latin beat. "As you can see, I am changing." [continues 1290 words]
HOWEVER you put it, the Philippine National Police is among the government agencies responsible for the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country-either by direct involvement or sheer ineffectiveness. Strange enough, the law enforcers who gained notoriety for protecting drug cartels and syndicates in the past are now earning praises for killing drug suspects at will-in the name of a "drug war." Do you really want to vindicate and encourage the police to further abuse its power while the unjust social system prevails? [continues 218 words]
IT'S EASY: Start with semantics. Step 1: Establish a consensual value system to shape a receptive audience. A consensual value system is composed of a repertoire of values everyone is willing to accept. It aims to be universal as well as encompassing by differentiating a set of favorable values from those unpalatable to the audience. We desire a drugfree Philippines. Who doesn't? Values legitimize a political action (be it human rights intervention or extrajudicial killing) by leading their audience to perceive coherence in their binary arrangement. [continues 774 words]
IT'S A mantra that top government officials keep chanting: Police killings enjoy a presumption of regularity. This mantra is used in answer to voices of protest when someone is killed by police under suspicious circumstances, such as when an arrested suspect is killed inside a police car for allegedly attempting to grab an officer's gun. This mantra is increasingly being heard as response to criticism against the mounting number of people killed by police in the administration's war on drugs. A total of 929 people have been killed during police operations from July 1 to Aug. 31. [continues 832 words]
Just like in the movies, but this is real life. President Duterte admitted he takes inspiration from Western action movies like "Dirty Harry" in waging his bloody war on drugs that has raised concern among the United Nations, the United States and human rights advocates. Duterte's revelation came just hours before a blast ripped the Roxas night market in his hometown Davao City that killed 14 and injured more than 60 people. Answering queries from Michael Sullivan of the National Public Radio Washington, Duterte related the movie "Dirty Harry" with the killings of sus-pected drug pushers, particularly those killed by vigilante groups. [continues 500 words]
LINGAYEN-DAGUPAN Archbishop Socrates Villegas has urged Filipinos to speak up against the spate of killings targeting suspected criminals rather than remain comfortably silent. In a pastoral message, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) head reminded the faithful that "What you do or not do for the least of your brethren, you do to Christ." The message was to be read today in all churches under the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in lieu of the Sunday homily. "If you agree with us that killing suspected criminals is a crime and a sin itself, why do you just stay seated there in comfort keeping quiet? Whatever you do or not do for the least of your brethren, you do to Christ," Villegas said. [continues 397 words]
Aside from nightclubs and bars, authorities are setting their sights on condominium dwellers and call center agents in Metro Manila in the next phase of the war on drugs. National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde said they are investigating reports that drug pushers are using condominium dwellers and call center agents in their illegal transactions. Albayalde noted that the two groups could evade police detection because many call center agents work at night while condominiums are usually well secured against unwanted visitors. "I've ordered the five district directors to step up the implementation of Oplan Tokhang and Project Double Barrel in condominium units, business process outsourcing ( BPO) offices in Metro Manila," Albayalde said. [continues 279 words]
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte could face international criminal charges as the death count in his relentless war on drugs tops almost 2000, human rights advocates say. Comments by the tough-talking former provincial mayor such as "all of you are into drugs, you sons of bitches ... I will kill you" could be used as evidence to prosecute him, they say. Sam Zarifi, from the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), says it is likely that as the killings continue lawyers will gather evidence to initiate legal proceedings against Mr Duterte, as 9541 victims of the late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos did in the United States in the 1990s. [continues 299 words]
As the casualties in the government's war on drugs continue to pile up, the Philippines faces a "human rights calamity," according to Human Rights Watch. Phelim Kine, Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia deputy director, said at an ABS-CBN News Channel forum on human rights Tuesday night that the number of suspects killed in the hands of police in the first eight weeks of the Duterte administration is 10 times higher than those who died in the first six months of the year. [continues 752 words]
President: US Leader Must First See Context PRESIDENT Duterte yesterday said he was ready to defend his take-no-prisoners war on drugs in a discussion of the human rights situation in the Philippines with US President Barack Obama in Laos next week. Mr. Duterte said he was willing to meet with Obama on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in Vientiane on Sept. 6, but he would demand that he be allowed to first explain the context of his merciless crackdown on the illegal drug trade before engaging the US leader in a discussion of the human rights situation in the Philippines. [continues 546 words]
The United Nations is only paying lip service to the fight against illegal drugs and is even prejudging the involvement of law enforcers in summary executions of suspected drug offenders, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said on Monday. "The UN is just making mere lip service, stymied by the most vocal who seem to protect the illegal drugs trade," Yasay said. "This is the kind of frustration we must express. We must also understand the UN is not the solution but we must all be active participants," he told journalists at the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City. [continues 203 words]
DID "The Punisher" just own up to the killing of druggies? President Duterte has admitted the government's lack of funds for the rehabilitation of drug dependents had led to the deaths of suspected drug lords. Since he assumed the presidency on June 30, almost 2,000 alleged drug pushers and users had died in police operations and vigilante killings. Speaking before members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) in Malacanang Monday night, the President said his administration did not have the money to finance recovery programs for some 700,000 drug users who had turned themselves in to police. [continues 85 words]
CEBU CITY - The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) has intensified its campaign against illegal drugs with the launching of Oplan Pokemon, the police version of the popular mobile phone game. Just like the popular mobile phone app game, where players go to places to catch Pokemon monsters, Oplan Pokemon calls for the local police to go to different areas to look for those involved in the illegal drugs trade. The CCPO marked its first operation under Oplan Pokemon with a convoy of patrol cars and funeral hearse. [continues 156 words]
ILOILO CITY - Church and religious groups have decried the surge in killings of suspected drug pushers and have called on the faithful to "defend the dignity of life." Fr. Marco Sulayao, chair of Promotion of Church People's Response (PCPR) on Panay Island, said while religious people support the eradication of illegal drugs and rehabilitation of drug dependents, these should be done without the "wanton" killings of suspected drug pushers. He said there has been no significant outcry because of the people's desire to get rid of illegal drugs, which have victimized many, especially the youth. [continues 353 words]
Under fire for allegedly condoning extralegal killings, Malacanang yesterday told the international media to visit the Philippines so they can see for themselves the extent of the drug menace in the country. Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said visiting the country would enable foreign journalists to understand the context of President Duterte's tough pronouncements on narcotics and crime. "The international media, as I have repeated time and again, should come to the Philippines and experience the life of the barangay (village) people who have so much drug problems," Andanar told reporters on the sidelines of the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City. [continues 571 words]
(AP) - PRESIDENT Duterte said on Monday that the bloody antidrug campaign, that has left nearly 1,800 people dead, did not amount to genocide, but he nevertheless assured the policemen he was ready to go to jail to defend them from lawsuits. Mr. Duterte drew a line between the widespread killings sparked by his antidrug war and the brutality under Syrian President Bashar Assad and the atrocities committed by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. "Genocide? Who did I kill? I did not kill any child. I did not drop barrel (bombs) just like Assad," the President said in a speech to mark National Heroes' Day before war veterans, ambassadors and top officials. "I'm fighting ... criminals." [continues 230 words]
THERE seems to be no doubt on the unwavering commitment of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to fulfill his campaign promise of going all-out against the drug menace, come hell or high water. The campaign rhetoric had hinted how bloody the war against illegal drugs and criminality might be-like when then presidential candidate Duterte impressed upon the electorate that 100,000 criminals could die and their bodies dumped into Manila Bay to fatten the fish there-but the actual number of fatalities can still be very alarming, particularly to human rights advocates. [continues 706 words]
When the late Rafael Salas became the first head of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) in 1969, among his young recruits was Cecile Joaquin. Cecile was still working in New York in what was renamed the UN Population Fund when she met a Filipino lawyer some years later. The lawyer, Perfecto Yasay Jr., traveled the world after being named vice president of the international YMCA when he was just in his early 20s. Romance bloomed between the two, which led to marriage. [continues 935 words]
Nobody, not even the poor, can justify getting into illegal drugs, President Duterte stressed, and there must be an "eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" principle of retributive justice to finally end the menace. As this developed, Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas issued a prayer for the healing of the nation amid the rising number of killings related to the war on drugs. "They know that is prohibited, whether you are poor or rich," Duterte said Monday night as he reiterated his heart would never bleed for families of those killed in government operations, even if some of them were supposedly forced to become drug pushers to earn a living. [continues 842 words]
The Europen Union ( EU) has expressed concern over the spate of killings in the Duterte administration's campaign against illegal drugs, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza said yesterday. In a press conference at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Dureza said when he met with EU officials in Brussels, Belgium last Aug. 25, "they asked about the issue on drug campaign in the country." "They told me that many people are being killed... So many of our agreements with the EU have something to do with human rights issues, like the free tariff privilege with the EU. It is important that we clarified it to them," Dureza said. [continues 297 words]
Pedicab driver Reyjin dives into a neighbor's house for a quick meth fix, fearful of taking a bullet to the head in President Duterte's brutal war on drugs but unable to quit. More than 2,000 people have died violent deaths since Duterte took office two months ago and immediately implemented his scorched-earth plans to eradicate drugs in society, ordering police to shoot dead traffickers and urging ordinary citizens to kill addicts. The bloodbath has seen unknown assailants kill more than half the victims, according to police statistics, raising fears that security forces and hired assassins are roaming through communities and shooting dead anyone suspected of being involved in drugs. [continues 210 words]
Judging from foreign media reports, the Duterte administration is attracting a lot of international attention, much of it for the wrong reasons. President Duterte will probably tell the foreign media to go to hell, but it's the Philippines that's taking a hit from all the bad press. So far, most foreign governments have refrained from publicly commenting on the drug-related mass killings, now about to shoot past 2,000. But I've been told that diplomats representing key global players are now touching base with certain administration officials, mainly to send word that the negative reports have started taking their toll on tourism and investments from their countries. [continues 997 words]
WE, THE members of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines, acknowledge our active role as a visible force and prophetic voice in social life, in working for the common good. A role embraced by the Lord Jesus himself when he quoted the prophet Isaiah as he began his ministry: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." (Luke 4:18 19) [continues 592 words]
CANBERRA - Since President Duterte launched his war on drug syndicates on July 1, he has plunged the Philippines into a multitheater conflict against a broad front of international institutions, including the United Nations, its human rights rapporteurs, human rights watchdog groups, Amnesty International, the country's Chief Justice and other domestic critics of his violence-driven campaign. Hundreds of suspected drug dealers have been killed in alleged extrajudicial executions as the administration pursued the President's campaign promise to exterminate the drug menace in three to six months of his presidency. [continues 603 words]
(AP) - On the day he was sworn into office, President Rodrigo Duterte went to a Manila slum and exhorted residents who knew any drug addicts to "go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful." Two months later, nearly 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users lay dead as morgues continue to fill up. Faced with criticism of his actions by rights activists, international bodies and outspoken Filipinos, including the top judge, Duterte has stuck to his guns and threatened to declare martial law if the Supreme Court meddles in his work. [continues 447 words]
Inside Philippines
