Quote:Between July 1 and August 20, about 900 people were killed in police operations, with another 1,100 people killed in incidents unrelated to police operations. But one of the most troubling aspects of those deaths is how they've been meted out. While police have killed a significant number of people, most of the killings appear to have been carried out by vigilantes and other civilians, some pressed into service as contract killers. "My first job was two years ago in this province nearby. I felt really scared and nervous because it was my first time," a woman going by the name Maria told the BBC in August. She was part of a team that included several women, who are often able to approach targets without raising suspicions. "One time, they needed a woman," Maria told the BBC. "My husband tapped me to do the job. When I saw the man I was supposed to kill, I got near him and I shot him." Throughout his presidential campaign, Duterte emphasized that his policy on the country's drug dealers and users was "kill them all," a statement that elicited both approval and shock. He also promised bounties to police who killed drug dealers and exhorted regular Filipinos to kill or arrest suspects — a request other politicians have echoed.

Quote:The poor in the barangays—as the smallest units of municipal organization in the Philippines are called—pay the highest price. In these impoverished communities, children play beside open sewers, families often share one room, and, for a few people, shabu is an escape—both psychologically and financially. “A lot of the people involved in the drug market have no other opportunity for income, so a lot of that money also goes to support families in communities,” says Clarke Jones, a researcher at the Australian National University who studies the Philippine prison system and the drug trade within it. Rightly fearing for their lives, Filipinos are surrendering in droves. More than 700,000 people have turned themselves in to the authorities for drug-related offenses since Duterte took office, according to police data. Rehabilitation is an option for only a few thousand, owing to the scarcity of government-approved centers. Other than the grave, that leaves prison, which even by Philippine standards is a special kind of hell. On a recent visit to Manila’s Las Piñas City Jail, TIME estimated that about 50 men were sharing a 3-by-3-m cell

Quote:Duterte once even vowed to kill his own children if he caught them using drugs. That’s how he talks. On the campaign trail, Duterte joked that he “should have been first” in the 1989 rape of an Australian missionary in Davao, where he spent 22 years as mayor, and publicly branded his daughter as a “drama queen” after she revealed that she had been raped. The statements were seen as salty speech, not evidence of an ungoverned mind. His boast of the “1,700” suspected criminals killed by death squads when he was mayor—correcting, on live television, allegations that the number was 700—created no uproar. He compares the killings under him to police violence in the U.S.: “They’re shooting blacks there,” he said during a press briefing. “What’s the difference between America and the Philippines? Nothing.”

Quote:Since Rodrigo Duterte was elected president of the Philippines last June, he has waged a brutal crackdown on drug dealers and addicts. Nearly 4,000 people have been killed by government forces, and Duterte has invoked the Holocaust to describe the scope of his ambition. “Hitler massacred three million Jews,” he declared in September. “Now there is three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.” 

Duterte’s authoritarian rhetoric has elicited sharp condemnations from human rights advocates and foreign leaders. But there’s another front in his war on drugs that has escaped international attention. Last fall, as I reported on the violence in the Philippines, I picked up an ardent critic on social media. Her name was Madelyn, and she was young and attractive, with long hair and deep, brown eyes. When I posted about Duterte’s war on drugs, Madelyn responded with derision. “Maybe u are anti-Duterte TROLL,” she tweeted. “A foreigner who knows NOTHING bout my country.” She seemed to devote her waking hours to spreading her love of Duterte and assailing anyone who questioned him, posting dozens of times a day. “My President and I am proud of him,” one tweet read. “Get lost critics!” 

Madelyn, it appears, is part of a vast and effective “keyboard army” that Duterte and his backers have mobilized to silence dissenters and create the illusion that he enjoys widespread public support. Each day, hundreds of thousands of supporters—both paid and unpaid—take to social media to proselytize Duterte’s deadly gospel. They rotate through topics like corruption, drug abuse, and U.S. interference, and post links to hastily cobbled-together, hyper-partisan web sites at all hours of the day and night. Though social media is designed to make each user appear to be a unique individual whose views are her own, Madelyn and her cohort stick exclusively to the Duterte talking points, without any of the cat GIFs, funny asides, jokes with friends, or other elements that populate most people’s feeds.

Quote:Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he would impose martial law if the drug problem became "very virulent", just a month after dismissing as "nonsense" any suggestion he might do so. Duterte has made a brutal war on drugs a central pillar of his administration since he took office in the middle of last year. Since July, more than 6,000 people have been killed in the anti-drug campaign, in both police operations and unexplained killings by suspected "vigilantes". More than 1 million drug peddlers and users have been arrested or have surrendered to authorities.

Quote:Shadowy assassins are still killing poor Filipinos, despite a police withdrawal from Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drug war, a rights group said Friday, as Manila filed criminal charges against the president's top critic. Duterte ordered the police to step back at the end of January after a seven-month campaign that had left 6,485 people dead, many in unexplained circumstances. The latest tally given to AFP on Friday showed an extra 146 people had died since the January 31 stand-down was ordered, which rights groups said showed extrajudicial killings were continuing. "The targets are still the same, as far as we are concerned: people linked to drugs and who live in poor neighbourhoods," Wilnor Papa, campaign official for the Philippine branch of Amnesty International, told AFP. Papa said unknown assailants were now killing between nine and 10 people daily. This compared with about 30 people a day being killed by police and unknown assailants when officers were still leading the crackdown. 

Although the anti-drugs campaign is popular among voters, campaigners say it has granted a licence to kill to anyone with a grudge and a gun. But critics are finding it increasingly tough to get a hearing in the Philippines. On Friday the government filed criminal charges against Senator Leila de Lima, a justice secretary in the previous government and former human rights commissioner who is one of Duterte's most vocal opponents. The charges allege she ran a drug trafficking ring using criminals in the country's largest prison when she was justice secretary. De Lima said in a statement that the charges, which could land her a 30-year jail term, were solely aimed at silencing her opposition.

Quote:The Philippine police chief stopped the use of the national police force in anti-drug operations Monday and disbanded all police anti-narcotics units after the president's brutal crackdown was used as a cover by rogue officers to kidnap and kill a South Korean man for money. Police Director-General Ronald Dela Rosa told police officers he would use the indefinite halt of anti-drug operations to launch a massive purge of police involved in crimes. A counter-intelligence force would be formed to catch rogue officers and records of those previously implicated in crimes would be reviewed. "No more drug operations now," Dela Rosa told police officers at the main police camp, without indicating how long the ban would last. 

Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said the temporary stoppage in police anti-drug operations to allow an internal police purge "is nothing less than an empty public relations gesture unless he seeks meaningful accountability for the more than 7,000 Filipinos killed" in the crackdown.

Quote:A closed-door caucus on Tuesday saw 10 senators vote to reopen a previous Senate inquiry into allegations Duterte created and commanded a “death squad” while serving as Davao City’s mayor. Eight administration senators opposed the motion while the rest abstained, a reversal that surprised even Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, a Duterte ally. The move was triggered by the public confession of Arturo Lascanas, a recently retired police officer who was personally close to Duterte and an alleged leader of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS) vigilante group. Human Rights Watch, a US rights lobby, has reported the death squad was behind 1,424 extrajudicial killings. Duterte and his supporters have consistently denied the death squad existed.  At a press conference, Lascanas claimed that the death squad was real and that then-mayor Duterte allegedly paid its members between P20,000 to P100,000 for each targeted killing. He added that on top of the bounties, he received a monthly allowance of P100,000 from the Office of the Mayor. He also admitted his involvement in the 2003 murder of Juan “Jun” Pala, a radio broadcaster who was frequently critical of Duterte on his program.

Quote:Police in the Philippines have killed more than 30 people in a series of raids near Manila, in the bloodiest night yet of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. Supt Romeo Caramat said 67 police operations in various parts of Bulacan, a province north of the capital, had left 32 “drug personalities” dead and more than 100 others arrested. Human rights groups have repeatedly warned that Duterte, nicknamed “the Punisher” by his supporters for his approach to policing, may be overseeing crimes against humanity in his brutal anti-drugs campaign, which has left thousands dead. Since Duterte became president last July, government figures show police have killed 3,451 “drug personalities”. More than 2,000 other people have been killed in drug-related crimes and thousands more murdered in unexplained circumstances, according to police data. Duterte has vowed, however, to protect officers who kill drug suspects under suspicious circumstances.

Quote:Since coming to power in June 2016, Rodrigo Duterte has waged a brutal, bloody campaign against drugs that has left over 9,000 dead. The Philippines President promised a crackdown on crime during his electoral campaign, and said that he would be “happy to slaughter” the millions of addicts in his country.

The past two weeks have been especially deadly, and over 90 people were killed in one three-day span. The murder of a 17-year-old high school student has attracted particular outrage. CCTV footage showed him being frog-marched away by police to be executed, contradicting claims that police only shoot when fired upon.

The United Nations, including U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley, have repeatedly condemned Duterte’s government for human rights violations. But, in a phone call prior to his inauguration, Donald Trump praised the “unbelievable job” that Duterte was doing. “I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” he said. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing, and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

Quote:The son of Philippine strongman Rodrigo Duterte has denied any involvement with a seized Chinese shipment of 1,300 pounds of crystal meth, worth roughly $125 million. Paolo Duterte has been accused by opponents of helping to facilitate the entry of the massive shipment into the port of Manila, along with his brother-in-law Manases Carpio. According to Bloomberg Politics, a broker who handled the shipment claimed the smugglers had links with the two men.

Philippine authorities filed charges against the broker, Mark Taguba, in July. At a hearing at the House of Representatives on August 7 he said that he paid one million pesos a week to a group in Davao in the south of the country, where Paolo Duterte is a vice mayor.
He added that while he never met with Duterte or Carpio directly, their names were often mentioned and protection money was accepted on their behalf.

Quote:The entire police force in part of the Philippine capital is to be relieved of duty, after the controversial deaths of three teenagers. Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde said 1,200 officers from the Caloocan district would be retrained and then assigned to other units. The move comes amid growing scrutiny of police operations amid President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drugs war. The most high-profile case involved a boy killed in Caloocan on 16 August. Police say Kian Loyd Delos Santos, who was 17, ran from them and then opened fire, so they shot him. But his parents say he had no involvement in drugs. A witness said police tried to force a gun into his hand and CCTV footage shows a boy, said to be him, being dragged away by police, contradicting claims he ran.

Police figures say 3,800 suspects have been killed in anti-drugs operations since he took office. Several thousand more unexplained killings have also been attributed to the crackdown.

But rights groups have voiced serious concerns over extrajudicial killings. Earlier this year, Mr Duterte briefly suspended his crackdown to clean up the police force after officers seized a South Korean businessman under the guise of a drugs raid, killed him and sought a ransom from his family.

Quote:Lawmakers in the Philippines have voted to give an annual budget of just 1,000 pesos ($20; £15) to the public body investigating the country's controversial war on drugs. The cut to the budget of the Commission on Human Rights was supported by a margin of 119 to 32 in Congress. Speaker of the House Pantaleon Alvarez labelled the commission "useless". But critics say the move is punishment for the body's staunch criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte's drugs war.

Quote:Relatives of some of the victims told the rights group how they witnessed police fatally shooting children at point blank range as they were begging for mercy. The killing by police of a 17-year-old student, Kian Delos Santos, in August, sparked nationwide protests in the Philippines after CCTV footage emerged of him being dragged along the street by two plain clothes officers, casting doubt on police claims he was shot in self defence. More than 12 police officers have been investigated for the Santos killing after the case received international attention, but no one has yet been held to account. Since Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine president, took office in June 2016, more than 3,900 “drug personalities” have been killed in his anti-drugs campaign, although activists say they are suspected users and alleged small-time dealers. More than 2,000 others have been killed in drug-related crimes and thousands murdered in unexplained circumstances, according to police data..

Quote:President Donald Trump has privately expressed a desire for all drug dealers in the US to be executed, according to the news website Axios. Trump also reportedly commented favorably on the drug policies of Singapore and the Philippines, two countries where drug dealers are executed.

Quote:The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has said that he personally ordered the detention of an Australian Catholic nun, warning that any foreign critics of his government face deportation. Sister Patricia Fox, 71, a longtime resident of the Philippines, was detained by the immigration bureau on Monday on suspicion of engaging in political activities. She was released without charges the next day. • Sign up to receive the top stories every morning “It was not the military who arrested the nun,” Duterte said in a speech to soldiers on Wednesday. “It was upon my orders. I ordered her to be investigated … for disorderly conduct.” Duterte has previously launched into scathing attacks on critics of his deadly drug war, in which thousands of people have died. The international criminal court’s chief prosecutor launched a preliminary investigation in February into allegations of extrajudicial killings. This prompted Duterte to withdraw from the ICC and threaten to arrest the chief prosecutor if she came to the Philippines.

Fox, a missionary of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, joined an international fact-finding mission in the southern Philippines this month to look into reported violations of the rights of farmers and indigenous people, according to her lawyer. In an interview with Manila’s ABS-CBN network after her release, she insisted: “I haven’t been engaged [in] party politics.”

Quote:The government of the Philippines, led by President Rodrigo Duterte, will hold its Independence Day celebration at Trump International Hotel in Washington. The event, which will be held on June 12, comes at time when the Trump administration is considering whether to pursue a new trade deal with the Philippines. 

President Trump has expressed admiration for Duterte, who has been waging a ruthless war against drugs by encouraging extrajudicial killings of drug users and dealers. The policies resulted in thousands of deaths. "I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I wanted to tell you that," Trump told Duerte in a telephone conversation last year obtained by The Intercept. “Anytime if you are in D.C. or anywhere, come see me in the Oval Office," he said..

• The US President expresses admiration of Duterte's drug policy, which has summarily executed thousands, most of whom are small-time poor addicts, through police and hired death squads. Just executed.
  
• And in return, there is a bit of personal business gain..
  

Quote:But on Monday, if her legal appeals fail, officers of the Philippines Government are expected to arrive, take her away and forcibly deport her – or worse. Jails in the Philippines are tough places. Rodrigo Duterte says he personally ordered arrest of Australian nun Read more The stick-thin 71-year-old nun doesn’t plan to let it happen. “I will go to ground,” she says. “I won’t tell you more, but I won’t be sitting around talking to journalists. They should not deport me when I have an appeal underway. And it won’t happen if I can help it.” Sister Fox has been living and working in the Philippines for more than 28 years without receiving a word of publicity. Now, she has sprung to international attention as the Australian nun who has riled a president. In person, it is hard to imagine anyone less threatening. She needs her glasses to read, admits to scattiness and a forgetfulness when it comes to names. She used to be a school teacher, but claims she was “hopeless” – too soft and no discipline.

Between April 6-9 this year Fox was one of about 30 representatives of human rights groups to travel to the southern island of Mindanao on a fact-finding mission, investigating reports of human rights abuses. Their findings were released this week but have gone almost entirely unreported, both by the Filipino and international media. Duterte has imposed martial law in Mindanao, citing terrorism both from Islamic State sympathisers and from the New People’s Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party. But the fact-finding mission heard that this was cloaking other motivations. Fox and her colleagues heard stories of indigenous people and subsistence farmers being summarily executed or forced off their land to make way for mining and extensions to palm oil and banana plantations. In a statement the group said that the Duterte regime, supported by the USA, had “unleashed a dirty war against farmers and communities…Fear and terror engulf the vast population of farmers, national minorities and the civilian population.”