Al Jazeera’s Listening Post programme on the Philippine “war on drugs”.
ANALYSIS: Presented by Richard Gizbert
The most violent week yet in President Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines has seen more than 90 people killed and NGO workers threatened, reports Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post.
Since coming to power in June last year, Duterte has been on a mission to eradicate what he claims is the country’s pandemic drug problem.
The brutal crackdown on the drug trade in the country – described by man critics as a “war on the poor” – is showing no signs of slowing down, says the weekly media analysis programme presented by Richard Gizbert.
Last week, 58 alleged drug dealers and users were killed in and around the capital, Manila, with the total since Duterte came to office being put at more than 13,000 by human rights agencies.
One of the victims, 17-year-old Kian delos Santos, made headlines. Police say he was killed in a two-way firefight. Eyewitnesses, backed by CCTV footage, tell a different story.
President Rodrigo Duterte has dismissed the killings of children as “collateral damage” while labelling anyone who criticises his deadly approach as an “enemy of the state”.
Journalists and now NGOs are on that “enemy” list.
Contributors:
Maria Ressa, CEO, Rappler
Vergel Santos, chairman, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)
RJ Nieto, publisher, Thinking Pinoy
Karen Gomez-Dumpit, commissioner, Commission on Human Rights
Felipe Villamor, Philippines reporter, The New York Times
- Murdered teenager Kian delos Santos laid to rest
- ‘Our son Kian – a good, sweet boy’
- CCTV footage showing Caloocan police dragging youth to his death
- Slain Philippine teenager’s family files murder complaint against police
- The Listening Post
