They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, began his anti-drug campaign when he took office on June 30, 2016: since then, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP), 22,983 such deaths since the “war on drugs” began are classified as “homicides under investigation.”

The victims, suspected users and pushers, are not afforded any semblance of due process, and are killed just about everywhere imaginable — on the sidewalk, on train tracks, in front of a girls’ school, outside 7-Eleven stores and a McDonald’s restaurant, across bedroom mattresses and living-room sofas. “You can expect 20,000 or 30,000 more.” he said in a statement in October, 2016.

In December,2016, the President boasted about having personally killed criminal suspects when he was mayor of Davao City. “In Davao, I used to do it personally — just to show to the guys that if I can do it, why can’t you?” Mr. Duterte told business leaders at a meeting in Manila, explaining how he goaded police officers to gun down suspects.

What I experienced in the Philippines felt like a new level of ruthlessness: police officers’ summarily shooting anyone suspected of dealing or even using drugs, vigilantes’ taking seriously Mr. Duterte’s call to “slaughter them all.” The sounds of families mourning their loved ones still echo’s and blood runs through the streets, as long as the “campaign” continues. “They are slaughtering us like animals,” said a bystander at a crime scene, who was afraid to give his name.

Duterte has vowed to continue his anti-drug campaign until his term ends in 2022. In July 2018, he again pledged to continue the “war on drugs,” saying “it will be as relentless and chilling as on the day it began.” According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), 4,948 suspected drug users and dealers died during police operations from July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2018. Nevertheless, activists calculate that the death tolls of the three-year-old drug war rises as high as 27,000.

The victims, suspected users and pushers, are not afforded any semblance of due process, and are killed just about everywhere imaginable — on the sidewalk, on train tracks, in front of a girls’ school, outside 7-Eleven stores, across bedroom mattresses and living-room sofas. Duterte has also vowed to protect police officers and agents carrying out the “drug war” from prosecution. Except for a few high-profile cases, the killings have not been investigated. The text in the original article is mine so maybe we can use that somehow?