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They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals

YOU HEAR A MURDER

SCENE before you see
it: The desperate cries of
a new widow. The
piercing sirens of
approaching police cars.
The thud, thud, thud of
the rain drumming on
the pavement of a
Manila alleyway — and
on the back of Romeo
Torres Fontanilla.

Tigas, as Mr. Fontanilla was known, was lying facedown in the street when I pulled up
after 1 a.m. He was 37. Gunned down, witnesses said, by two unknown men on a
motorbike. The downpour had washed his blood into the gutter.

The rain-soaked alley in the Pasay district of Manila was my 17th crime scene, on my
11th day in the Philippines capital. I had come to document the bloody and chaotic
campaign against drugs that President Rodrigo Duterte began when he took office on
June 30: since then, about 2,000 people had been slain at the hands of the police alone.

Over my 35 days in the country, I photographed 57 murder victims at 41 sites, each

represented by a yellow dot on this map.

I witnessed bloody scenes 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. I watched as a woman in
red peeked at one of those grisly sites
through fingers held over her eyes, at once
trying to protect herself and permit herself
one last glance at a man killed in the middle
of a busy road.

Not far from where Tigas was killed, I found Michael Araja, shown in the first photo
below, dead in front of a “sari sari,” what locals call the kiosks that sell basics in the
slums. Neighbors told me that Mr. Araja, 29, had gone out to buy cigarettes and a drink
for his wife, only to be shot dead by two men on a motorcycle, a tactic common enough
to have earned its own nickname: riding in tandem.

In another neighborhood, Riverside, a bloodied Barbie doll lay next to the body of a 17-
year-old girl who had been killed alongside her 21-year-old boyfriend.
“They are slaughtering us like animals,” said a bystander who was afraid to give his
name.
China's Threat Of War Against
Philippines
On Friday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said President Xi Jinping threatened
war if Duterte started developing Philippine oil and gas resources in the South China
Sea. The Philippines has every right to do so, per the award of an international arbitral
tribunal in the Hague last year. After describing Xi’s threat, Duterte told his Philippine
military audience, “What more could I say?” I sympathize. The Philippines is a much
smaller country militarily, economically, and in diplomatic power, than is China. As
Duterte points out, war with China would be a “massacre and it will destroy everything,”
starting in Palawan, a long Philippine island bordering the South China Sea.

To whomever one ascribes blame, the U.S.-Philippine alliance failed to defend the
Philippine EEZ when China occupied Mischief Reef in 1995, and Scarborough Shoal in
2012. That is a fact. Every day that China continues its occupation, the alliance fails
anew.

More likely than war would be Chinese attempts to interdict Philippine commercial
vessels trying to drill for oil, and offering to sell Philippine oil rights. China did this to
Vietnam in 2012. When Vietnam tried to tow sonar in its EEZ, looking for oil and gas, a
Chinese boat ran over the cables and cut them. Also in 2012, China National Offshore
Oil Corporation (CNOOC) tried to auction blocks for oil exploration that were within
Vietnam's EEZ. The Philippines could protect its oil exploration and drilling with its
own Coast Guard, perhaps accompanied by U.S., European and Japanese Coast Guard.

Why did Duterte alienate the U.S. ($18 trillion nominal GDP) and E.U. ($20 trillion
GDP) in favor of China ($11 trillion GDP)? Because of promises of $24 billion in
investments and loans that will most likely primarily benefit Chinese companies, and
that have not yet materialized? The Philippines should use its precious resources,
whether loans or taxes, to develop its own industrial and technological capacity, not that
of foreign companies. The Philippines is a democracy with a U.S. defense treaty. China is
a military competitor and is in the process of illegally occupying Philippine territory.
The Philippines has every reason to court the U.S. for protection, and to expect that such
protection be afforded.

This problem predates Trump and Duterte, which suggests that we need stronger laws
to make it impossible for politicians, and by extension their friends, family, and political
supporters, from doing business with politically, economically, and militarily aggressive
countries like China. Not forbidding such business opens our democracies to
authoritarian political influence. As Trump rightly notes, people in the U.S. need the
Philippines as a bulwark against Chinese expansionism. Duterte rightly notes that the
Philippines, alone, would be destroyed in a war against China. People in the Philippines
need the U.S. for its military power. We need each other. Voters in both countries, and
in other democracies, must demand that their political leaders stick together and defend
the line that divides democracy from autocracy wherever it comes under threat.
REACTION:
When President Rodrigo Duterte ran in the presidential election in 2016,he promised
change. He promised rehabilitation, development of each and every individual, justice,
safe and secure country, peace and absence of all alarms or conflict – a new changed
country. He trended on social media with the slogan “Tapang at Malasakit” Many
Filipinos embraced him for this because they are in full hope of the “change” he
promised.

And here comes change, and it has turned bloody. Alongside the road, someone lies in
the cold ground and that body colder than where he lies, killed. He was killed with
shame and injustice.

3500 alleged dealers, 3500 “nanlaban” bodies along the streets.

And who cause these massive killings? Filipino killing his fellow Filipino? Just because
he cannot recycle, he dumped it. But why the poorest of the poor? Why those who still
seeking and discovering the secrets of the world, the teens? Why those who can’t defend
themselves because they’re not given a chance because they think he aren’t worth it?
Why?

Filipinos’ “tapang” grown stronger. What happen now to “malasakit”? Have we

forgotten about it? Where does his promise take us? To more serious problems and
conflicts? And now we can’t even speak for these people. We tend to protect him more,
because we are blinded by the fact that we wanted change, social cleansing, that we are
willing to spill blood to clean up drug mess. Let us remember Kian and all the innocent
lives taken. But then we never learned. What more would you like to happen to stand
and speak out? Why are we covering our eyes?

I too hoped for this change, the President should realize that weapons and violence is
not the answer, it does not provide necessary solution for what we are aiming. Our
country is near her finish. She’s dying, but we cannot provide necessary medication to
save her.

We notice that the symbol Duterte used in his campaign before was a fist, which
symbolizes bravery, but we fail to realize that that our fists, as what I have learned in
Science, were as the same scope or size of our hearts that signifies love and compassion.
We should choose compassion before bravery and heart over fist.
REACTION:
It’s the saddest thing about third-world countries, when you cannot defend your country
against globalized and great countries. It’s painful that another war will rise and we
cannot even protect ourselves. That’s what’s wrong about developed and influential
countries; they have the power to crush another country that is below them. Because we
don’t have enough and necessary equipment to fight back, we depend in countries,
hoping they’ll give us protection, while we know, that they too, have their own issues
about their states and in the end, we have to face the reality.

People who don’t know one another or even doesn’t saw each other before, they’d never
been into arguments and never fought before, but then came to a point that they’ll kill
each other because they had a different nationality. They’ll kill each other because there
are three to five people who have misunderstandings, so they’ll going to sacrifice, not
just thousand but millions of lives for the expense of others. They’ll fight but at the end,
though we call them heroes, they are still terrorist in the view of the other opponent
country and vice versa, and then all of us will be in danger because of this.
Think about this carefully, war is very non-sense and illogical. Leaders of different
countries, not generally, wanted to conquer the world. They wanted to reign over the
world for their power and influence, everything for their personal and selfish desires.

We have the power and knowledge to end hunger and poverty in humanity, but then we
are investing in weapons, bombs and war crafts that destroy the world.
Most Filipinos Will Stay Poor Despite
Duterte's Anti-Poverty Pledge
If the fast-growing Philippine economy story has the aura of a fairy tale, a quarter of the
Southeast Asian country's population haven't heard it - the poor.

The archipelago’s GDP growth does rank among the top five in Asia with growth
expected at 6.9% this year. Call center jobs in the cities, consumer spending and
remittances from millions of Filipinos who work overseas are fuelling the economy
worth $311 billion last year. Now the government plans to spend $167 billion on public
infrastructure construction -- items such as expressways and railways -- through 2022
to attract direct foreign investment that would give the economy yet another boost.

And last week President Rodrigo Duterte kicked off his second year in office by
announcing he had “laid the foundation to…transform the Philippines to a prosperous,
predominantly middle class society,” per a statement on the presidential office website
June 30. People will start living more comfortably thanks to free irrigation, free
university tuition and microfinance as well as new infrastructure that can bring job-
generating investment, his statement indicates. He's also aiming to cut corporate
income taxes and attract more business.

However, about 21% of Filipinos lived in poverty in 2015, according to the Philippines
Statistics Authority, earning less than $1,982 per year. The number of poor has hovered
between 20% and 30% for at least the past 10 years despite decades of poverty-
reduction efforts under a succession of presidents. Previous efforts over-focused on
fiscal expansion and “unsustainable” tax cuts, says Barclays regional economist Rahul
Bajoria, though ex-president Benigno Aquino made headway in his 2010-2016 term.
Aquino imposed “sin” taxes to raise revenue needed for poverty reduction work and
taking a jab at the sensitive issue of family planning. He increased the infrastructure
budget, as well.

People remain poor because economic trends don't help those who rely on farming or
fishing for their income. Those two industries yielded the two highest per-sector poverty
rates in 2015, about 34% apiece, the statistics authority said June 30. Another cause of
poverty: the majority-Catholic country does little family planning, meaning more
mouths to feed on low incomes. Add to that a manufacturing sector that's too small to
ease poverty by offering a glut of low-skilled jobs.
Long-standing land distribution patterns favor the rich as well, Bajoria says. Among the
poor, it's sometimes unclear who owns a plot of land, making it hard to use it as loan
collateral, says Trinh Nguyen, senior emerging Asia economist with the French
investment bank Natixis. With capital, the poor might start small businesses or learn the
skills for a well-paid job. "Credit is usually funneled to large corporates that don't really
need it," Nguyen says.

Poverty eradication through government spending would require raising taxes in the
Philippines, which has one of Asia’s lowest tax-to-GDP ratios, Bajoria points out. “If it’s
done by just borrowing money it’s not really sustainable,” he says. State spending would
in turn require safeguards against corruption by local leaders. Duterte calls himself a
corruption buster but will find it hard to check the pockets of every district head in every
city.
But Duterte's infrastructure push, including in parts of the country far from Manila,
might bring in enough industry to start creating jobs, economists say. "I'd say he's
headed the right way in terms of getting infrastructure on the agenda. It's squarely in
the agenda," says Christian de Guzman, vice president and senior credit officer with
Moody’s in Singapore. "Building out the infrastructure will also help to soak up
employment and provide low-skilled jobs."
REACTION:
“Why are we poor?”
Words I don’t know I will hear. I live in a neighborhood wherein poverty is a stake. What
I see every day in my way to school is one of the proofs that poverty isn’t just a word.
Poverty is real, many people don’t know about it because they haven’t experience it, but
I see it every single day; the children who can’t go to school, the little money they have
and their bodies which aren’t proportional to their age, it made me cry.

Truly, there is nothing good about poverty. I have seen what poverty does to some
people or should I say to many people. The government is doing their job in reducing
the number of poor or lowest in the pyramid of the society, but it seems that not all is
receiving what they have proposed. Sometimes, what they are doing isn’t enough . If
only corruption doesn’t exist, the taxes might have been used to greater purposes, but
because of these selfish lawmakers, the life of Filipino people became more miserable.

Then to help those poor families, increasing of tax is again their only solution to help
them, but then, what about those minimum wage earners, aren’t they also affected in
this?

The thing is, poverty must be really a constant issue in this world. As long as people do
not realize that compassion and love are all it takes to make this world a better place to
live on. Man forgot that he could help those in need if only he has a heart to. The
government cannot provide all the solutions to this problem, it has its limitations, we
should also contribute to the betterment of our country.
WHAT DO ISIS WANT?
ISIS is the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. ISIL is the Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant.
They are a Jihadist militant group which emerged from radical Sunni jihadists in Iraq
who fought under the banner “al-Qaeda in Iraq”.
They were founded in 2004 and grew from an Al-Qaeda linked group but it is thought
the two groups have since distanced themselves from each other.
The Guardian notes : "The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) is so hardline
that it was disavowed by al-Qaida's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri."
In April 2010, present IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi became the new head of the
group.
He is now one of the world’s most notorious men.
The US State Department has a $10m bounty on his head.
Only the leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has had a larger reward offered for his
capture or death - $25m.
In April 2013, having expanded into Syria joining the rebellion against President Bashar
al-Assad, the group created the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham.
Al-Sham is the historic Arabic name for Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. This area
is known in English as the Levant.
In June 2014 the group announced it would be known as Islamic State (IS) and declared
itself a caliphate.

ISIS aspires to create a caliphate, a state governed in accordance with Islamic law by
God’s deputy on Earth, or caliph. A caliph seen as the successor to the Islamic prophet
Muhammad.
In June 2014, the group formally declared the establishment of a caliphate.
It has demanded that Muslims across the world swear allegiance to its leader – Ibrahim
Awad Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samarrai, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – and
migrate to territory under its control.
IS has also told other jihadist groups worldwide that they must accept its supreme
authority.
Many already have, among them several offshoots of the rival al-Qaeda network.
IS seeks to eradicate obstacles to restoring God’s rule on Earth and to defend the
Muslim community, or umma, against infidels and apostates.
The group has welcomed the prospect of direct confrontation with the US-led coalition,
viewing it as a harbinger of an end-of-times showdown between Muslims and their
enemies described in Islamic apocalyptic prophecies
REACTION:
To my humble opinion, this group wanted their own law in their own way, with their on
jurisdiction to lead every Muslim in the path they want them to be. They might believe
that only Muslims can have the right to live in this world. They have that belief that what
they are doing is for their god, but what they do not realize, it is for their own benefit.

Again to my opinion, ISIS is not fighting for their religion, they are fighting to govern
and control politics. They scare and cause attacks in different regions to let their power
known, and to shake the stability of one’s state. After this happen, it will cause great fear
for people and continue to spread violence. If this happens, country might undergo fatal
destruction.

What ISIS wants is for the good of their religion and the people who have same beliefs
as them, but what about those people who wanted to live life in peace? What about those
innocent lives? Don’t they have a little consideration for people? Is this what their
religion tells them to do? If it is, then the world isn’t a safe place to live.

Another thing is, Islam means “peace”, what a paradox of life this is? The contradiction
of the name to the purpose of the group is hypocrital and illogical.

What must be the reason on why they are doing this? Social injustice? Poverty? In all
ways, why did they choose violence?
World War 3: North Korea warns ‘nuclear
war could break out at ANY MOMENT’ as
South arms
NORTH Korea has warned that “nuclear war may break out at any moment” due to
“reckless moves of aggression” from the US, the hermit kingdom has stated. KCNA, Kim
Jong-un’s state-controlled media mouthpiece, has launched a renewed threat of
annihilation to the world in response to joint military drills around the Korean
peninsula by America and South Korea.

The media puppet said: “The joint marine drill around the Paekryong and Yonphyong
Islands aimed at a preemptive strike at major targets of North Korea was a deliberate
and planned military provocation to further strain the situation of acute confrontation.

“The situation of the Korean peninsula is now on the worst phase of tension in which a
nuclear war may break out any moment due to the US reckless moves for aggression on
the DPRK.

“So, it is clear what a catastrophic phase such war games will bring. “The puppet
warmongers, keen on the moves to provoke a war, escalating the tension in collusion
with outsiders, are harassers of peace and traitors to the nation who can never be
allowed to go scot-free.

“The military provocation act of the puppet forces going helter-skelter with the backing
of their master is a suicidal act of digging their own graves.”

New images were recently released by the US Navy showing the astonishing sea power
at Trump’s disposal amid growing tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Three enormous aircraft carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan, USS Theodore Roosevelt and
USS Nimitz, were pictured alongside their strike forces and a range of fighter jets as the
vessels patrol the seas off the North Korean coast.
The drill involves 21 vessels – including 14 from the US and seven from South Korea,
with the latter equipped with the Aegis Combat System which allows them to track and
guide weapons to destroy enemy targets.

The Pentagon said the drill involving the three aircraft carrier strike groups in the
Western Pacific would be carried out for the first time in a decade.

The drill comes in response to the series of nuclear and missile threats from North
Korea and is designed to show tyrannical leader Kim Jong-un that any further threats
will be repelled with "overwhelming force".
In a statement, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said: “The US Navy mobilised three
aircraft carriers and 11 Aegis destroyers, while the Republic of Korea Navy mobilised
seven warships including two Aegis destroyers.”

The drills, which will continue until Tuesday, allow South Korean and US forces to
practice air operations, air artillery strikes and aircraft carrier escorts.

Announcing plans for the exercises last week, US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral
Scott Swift said: "It is a rare opportunity to train with two aircraft carriers together, and
even rarer to be able to train with three
. "Multiple carrier strike force operations are very complex, and this exercise in the
Western Pacific is a strong testament to the US Pacific Fleet's unique ability and
ironclad commitment to the continued security and stability of the region."
The major exercise will be the first time the three carriers have operated together in the
Western Pacific since 2006 and 2007 when they carried out drills off the coast of Guam.

Mr Trump warned Kim Jong-un “the weapons you are acquiring are not making you
safer, they are putting your regime in grave danger”.

According to reports, the Republican may board one of the carriers in person to
demonstrate the US firepower and its commitment to regional security.

He threatened to “destroy” the hermit nation and has used his tour to continue to mount
pressure on Kim to halt his nuclear ambitions.

But Mr Trump also hinted he would be willing to start negotiations with North Korea in
order to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.