New PNP Chief a leading architect of the deadly drug war Responding to the appointment of PLtGen Camilo Cascolan as the new chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Amnesty International Philippines Section Director, Butch Olano, said “PLtGen Cascolan is no stranger to the deadly drug war. As the PNP’s former operations chief and co-author…
Philippines: New report reveals deliberate killings of children during “war on drugs” Geneva (OMCT) – A new report, published today, documents 122 killings of children, from 1 to 17 years old, throughout the Philippines, between July 2016 and December 2019. The report, titled “How could they do this to my child?”, jointly published by the…
Findings of the 2017-2019 Documentation of Extrajudicial Killings (EJK) committed in the context of the so-called War on Drugs by the Philippine Human Rights Information Center Since Rodrigo Duterte’s inauguration as the 16th president of the Philippines in 2016, the country has witnessed a steep surge in gross violations of human rights. Three years into…
MANILA, Philippines — A British filmmaker is urging President Rodrigo Duterte and his supporters to watch his documentary on the war on drugs before dismissing it as mere ‘black propaganda’. James Jones said his team did not come to the Philippines with a biased notion of the Duterte administration’s drug war, contrary to recent statements…
The decision to keep secret the venue of the latest advance screening of “On the President’s Orders” says a lot about the atmosphere of fear in the country, a human rights advocate said on Wednesday night. “Haven’t we pondered if our situation today is not normal? The fact that we have to hide, that we…
ON THE PRESIDENT’S ORDERS Drug war killings must be told, says Emmy winner director Jones “On The President’s Orders” could pass as an action film about the murky world of drugs, politics and crime that people looking for thrilling entertainment watch, except that some of its scenes were real-life happenings. A CCTV footage used in…
All Jefferson Soriano wanted was to go to bed. But the power was out, his tiny room felt like a furnace, and his friend Manuel Borbe had come by. The pair walked outside to chat and get some air, eventually stopping for a late-night coffee along a busy road. Soriano and Borbe had lived nearly…
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso on Wednesday said he fully supports the campaign against illegal drugs by President Rodrigo Duterte but it must have respect for human rights. Moreno made the statement as he revealed that video karera machines and fruit (video) games were being used to sell and use drugs among the public.…
This is what every mother fears. Sadly, under this tyrannical Duterte regime and its failed War on Drugs, this is a tragic reality that thousands of mothers have gone through; a harrowing ordeal that they live with every day. Global Health NOW’s article, “Elderly Mothers Bear the Emotional Burden of the Drug War” (6 June…
International Criminal Court Should Investigate Ex-Police Chief Many pundits have interpreted the recently concluded midterm elections in the Philippines as an endorsement of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs.” Duterte’s favored candidates dominated the Senate, House, and local elections, prompting foreign affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. to pronounce, “he [Duterte] and the war just won”…
Free Legal Assistance Group lawyers on Thursday said the small fraction of police reports on the war on drugs they have reviewed bore a “strikingly” similar and almost “cut-and-paste” style of accounts of the killings. Incomplete records, lapses in police procedure, and unidentified assailants also marked FLAG’s findings from reports on 29 cases related to…
Supreme Court orders release of all ‘Tokhang’ police reports The Supreme Court has ordered the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to release all ‘Oplan Tokhang’ police reports to human rights groups and victims that questioned the legality of the government’s war on drugs. “The Court just ordered the Solicitor General to submit the police…
29,000 deaths probed since drug war launched At least 29,000 cases of killings categorized as deaths under inquiry (DUI) have been recorded nationwide since President Duterte launched his crackdown on illegal drugs, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP). In an interview over The Chiefs on Cignal TV’s One News on Monday, PNP spokesman Col.…
Bishop confirms death threats Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, whom President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to kill, has been receiving death threats. On Tuesday, David said his life was in danger so he decided to skip the Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Awards in De La Salle University (DLSU) Manila. “For over a week now my mobile…
Duterte gov’t allows ‘drug war’ deaths to go unsolved The memory of the night Manny* was killed remains vivid in the mind of his mother Lita* one year later. His lifeless body slumped on the ground with a pool of blood slowly spreading on the ground, turned the gray concrete darker in color. It was…
iDEFEND renews call for an end to the war on drugs, citing IDPC report The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) report on the global failure to address illegal drugs cited the gruesome results of drug wars waged around the world: A 145 per cent increase in drug-related deaths over the last decade, totaling a harrowing…
Netflix’ Philippine ‘drug war’ propagandist By PHELIM KINE Deputy Asia Director Human Rights Watch http://www.atimes.com/netflix-philippine-drug-war-propagandist/ The new Netflix drama series Amo, inspired by the Philippine government’s real-life “war on drugs,” presents a sinister revisionist take on an ongoing human-rights calamity. Amo’s Filipino director, Brillante Mendoza, has described the 13-episode miniseries, which began streaming last month,…
Ending the War on Drugs Saves Lives Foreign Secretary Alan Cayetano on Tuesday told the UN Human Rights Council that the deadly war on drugs was meant to save Filipino lives from the scourge of illegal drugs. He thinks the world is hearing this for the first time. But the same argument was also used…
International Criminal Court (ICC) to open preliminary examination of the situation in the Philippines Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mrs Fatou Bensouda, on opening Preliminary Examinations into the situations in the Philippines and in Venezuela Following a careful, independent and impartial review of a number of communications and reports documenting alleged…
Philippines: Endorse UN Inquiry into ‘Drug War’ Killings Independent Investigation Needed to Clarify Death Toll, Promote Accountability (New York, February 1, 2018) – The Philippine government should urgently support the creation of a United Nations-led investigation into the thousands of killings linked to its “war on drugs,” Human Rights Watch said today. A UN-led probe…
