Philippine drug war spreads fear
More than 5,000 people have been killed in President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign - and the death toll is still rising. The FT’s Michael Peel reports from Manila.
Filmed by Michael Peel and Grace Ramos. Produced and edited by Paolo Pascual. Additional footage from Reuters and Getty Images.
Transcript
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SUBJECT 1: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
SUBJECT 2: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
MICHAEL PEEL: The regime at this drug rehab centre in the Philippines is tough. But for some patients, it might be the only way to survive President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal anti-narcotics war. This man, a user and dealer of shabu, or crystal meth, says he was captured in a police raid and spared only after he paid a bribe of almost $1,500 from his drugs earnings.
JAKE: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
MICHAEL PEEL: People have flocked to rehab programmes like this since Mr. Duterte took power in June with a promise to kill 100,000 criminals and turn them into fish food. Parents are desperately registering their kids to keep them alive.
CHESTER LIGTINEN: Now there's this element of fear. You can note from their point of view that they are afraid that their children might get caught in this mess. Especially now, while we know drug addicts get killed.
MICHAEL PEEL: More than 5,000 people have died so far in a drugs war largely being waged at night, in deprived areas, leaving life elsewhere unnervingly untouched. This woman says her husband was one of those killed.
ELLEN: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
MICHAEL PEEL: Fear is pervasive. Activists say police are acting on kill lists drawn up arbitrarily by local authorities. You may be targeted without knowing that you have been accused, by whom, or why.
JOEL SARMENTA: A lot of the people who were slain, especially in their homes, were allegedly because the police have to visit them in order-- because their names are on a list. Now, these lists have been done through a judicial process. Let's not forget, the president himself mentioned people-- in nationwide TV, mentioned people on certain lists of his own. And it turned out some of the people in the list were already dead.
MICHAEL PEEL: More than half the killings are by vigilantes or other unofficial forces. Doctors and activists say many of those who have died are drug users who needed help.
BIEN LEABRES: It is important that the government should have a very strong anti-drug campaign, and I agree with it. However, the so-called extrajudicial killings is just taking it too much. You don't treat a disorder by killing your patients.
MICHAEL PEEL: But rehab is time consuming, expensive, and oversubscribed. And even those who complete the courses cannot be sure of survival. Authorities point to the popularity of the drug crackdown and say the police only kill in self defence.
DANICE SANTA-MARIA: Even if they do earn the certificate that they have finished a rehab programme, this isn't a 100% guarantee that when they step out of the hospital door, that they won't be shot in the head by the police or any other people involved in drugs.
MICHAEL PEEL: Patients know they are safe inside the walls of this rehab centre and others like it. But once outside, they could easily end up dead, another statistic in Mr. Duterte's lethal campaign. Michael Peel, Financial Times, Manila.
