Investigating

Duterte's drug
war in
Philippines —
facts and fiction
It has been two years since Duterte
became president of the Philippines
and unleashed a brutal war on
drugs. The death toll is high but
nobody seems to know the real
numbers — not even the police, as a
DW research shows. Philippines:
Duterte’s ‘Drug War’ Claims
12,000+ Lives
Government Harassment, Threats Against Rights Defenders

New York) – Philippine President

Rodrigo Duterte’s murderous “drug
war” entered its second year in 2017,
resulting in the killing of more than
12,000 drug suspects, Human Rights
Watch said today in its World Report
2018. Duterte has responded to
increased criticism of his anti-drug
campaign by impugning, harassing,
and threatening critics of the
government and human rights
defenders.
Since the “drug war” began on June
30, 2016, Duterte and his officials
have publicly reviled, humiliated and,
in one instance, jailed human rights
advocates. Senator Leila de Lima, the
president’s chief critic, has been
detained since February 2017
on politically motivated drug
charges in apparent retaliation for
leading a Senate inquiry into the drug
war killings and, early on, opening
an investigation of the Davao Death
Squad in Davao City, where Duterte
was mayor for more than 20 years.

“President Duterte has not only

resisted calls to end his brutal ‘drug
war,’ but has used populist rhetoric to
disparage the brave activists who have
been investigating and denouncing his
cruel campaign,” said Phelim Kine,
deputy Asia director. “Since Duterte
will never undertake a serious
investigation into the ‘war on drugs,’
it’s up to the United Nations to
support an international investigation
and bring the mass killings to a stop.”
Since Duterte will never undertake a serious investigation into the
‘war on drugs,’ it’s up to the United Nations to support an
international investigation and bring the mass killings to a stop.
Phelim Kine
Deputy Asia Director

In the 643-page World Report, its 28th

edition, Human Rights Watch reviews
human rights practices in more than
90 countries. In his introductory essay,
Executive Director Kenneth
Rothwrites that political leaders willing
to stand up for human rights
principles showed that it is possible to
limit authoritarian populist agendas.
When combined with mobilized
publics and effective multilateral
actors, these leaders demonstrated that
the rise of anti-rights governments is
not inevitable.
More than 12,000 suspected drug
users and dealers, mostly from poor
families in urban centers across the
country, are estimated to have died in
the “drug war,” including an estimated
4,000 during operations led by the
police and the remainder by
“unidentified gunmen.”
In August, Duterte encouraged police
attacks against human rights groups
and advocates, instructing police to
shoot them “if they are obstructing
justice.” Duterte has publicly
condemned the official Commission
on Human Rights, even threatening
to abolish the constitutionally
mandated body. He also repeatedly
subjected the UN special rapporteur
on extrajudicial killings, Agnes
Callamard, to profanity-
laced ridicule for her repeated efforts
to secure an official visit to the
Philippines. Duterte’s spokesman,
Harry Roque, has accused the UN of
“bullying” the Philippines about
extrajudicial killings.
On social media, pro-Duterte trolls
and supporters – some of them
officially working for the government
– have threatened violence against
human rights advocates, including
Human Rights Watch
staff and journalists who report
critically on the “drug war.”
In October, Duterte responded to
public outcry over the killings –
particularly of children – by taking the
Philippine National Police (PNP) out
of the anti-drug operations. The
killings declined but did not stop, and
the president has said he
would reinstate the police in the
campaign. A Human Rights Watch
investigation found that police and
their agents have repeatedly carried
out extrajudicial killings of drug
suspects, and then falsely claimed self-
defense. The police claim that several
police officers implicated in these
killings have been dismissed from
service and are under investigation but
not one has been brought to trial.
The killing of journalists remains a
concern in the Philippines as well as
reports of attacks on schools by
government forces. Leftist activists,
often accused of being communist
New People’s Army rebels,
are targeted by the military.
The country also has a fast-
growing HIV epidemic in the Asia-
Pacific region, fueled by the
government’s poor response to the
crisis. Students are bullied, harassed,
and discriminated against because of
their sexual orientation and gender
identity. In Marawi City, a
predominantly Muslim part of
Mindanao island, months-long fighting
between the military and ISIS-inspired
local Islamist groups resulted in the
deaths of more than 1,000 combatants
and civilians and the displacement of
400,000 residents.