Duterte's drug war: Death toll goes past 6,000

This is the title from the Al jezeera source I have used for this thread, there are many other sources for this information should you wish to search further.

Manila, Philippines - "Ma, tulong," Jason Babierra, 32, cried out for his mother's help as he dragged his bullet-ridden body on the concrete pavement in the Bernabe neighbourhood of Paranaque, a Manila suburb.

source

So some 1000 people a month have been executed, I decided to put this thread up after chatting to a Pilipino friend of mine, when this first started he was all for it and thought the guy was a legend, 6 months down the track and it seems to be a far different reality.

He told me an anecdotal story of his own, one of his mums friends were murdered because of whom she was dating.

There are so many stories of the neighbour up the road that wasn't liked so he was executed, the guy who married the girl the other guy wanted gets shot etc . Many people are being killed even though they do not take drugs and or do not deal drugs.

This was always going to be a disaster in my mind, I remember arguing the point with a few members on this site.

I was curious to how other members view this mess now that it has had some to for the cracks to appear.

That's just it.

If I don't like you, I can kill you, plant drugs on you, and there is no judicial system that will ever look into it.

Duterte is a murderer, same as all others before.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

If only people saw this coming and warned them...

Seriously, it's screwed up that our president is rubbing elbows with this evil sociopath. We should be intervening against him, not admiring him.

Super depressing what is going on over there.

a reply to: nightbringr


Calling him a murderer is being kind about it.

originally posted by: Abysha
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

If only people saw this coming and warned them...

Seriously, it's screwed up that our president is rubbing elbows with this evil sociopath. We should be intervening against him, not admiring him.

Super depressing what is going on over there.

Scary times we live in, especially when people were cheering this on like it is a good thing.

Any different from past presidents??war and global conflict make for strange bedfellows. I don't think Trump would hold a beer summit with the guy!!😁a reply to: Abysha

Jeez, who woulda thought this could get out of hand/control?? and some asshat's think this is awesome

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

to be blunt - any one who thought that mr dutertes :

" extra judicial pogrum "

was a good idea = IDIOT

he COULD have persued several legal alternatives to turn the drug problem [ and police corruption ] around - but hey - populist idiocy that didnt cost him anything won the day

let's let them determine the morality in the leader they unanimously and unequivocally elected on just the premise of eradicating their drug problems.

the FBI works for the cartels lest we forget...

originally posted by: vonclod
Jeez, who woulda thought this could get out of hand/control?? and some asshat's think this is awesome

I know right, it was like we were all blindsided .

a reply to: ignorant_ape


There was one member in particular that was an expat and claimed he spent lots of time there and gave me all kinds of arguments as to why this was a good thing for the Philippines.

I am curious if he feels the same way as he did months ago.


Interesting though, it is apparent with some of the world leaders being voted in , populist idiocy is all the rage .

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

I actually chat with Filipino friends daily, and for the most part they are still pro- Duterte...because, again, for the most part, the streets are safer from criminals.

That notwithstanding, there have been a very vocal but small group of people that are against Duterte's drug war, simply because they foresee the same things that we with an understanding of history can see. That small minority is growing slowly.

But you will have a hard time convincing the majority of Filipinos that Duterte's drug war is a bad thing.

originally posted by: Abysha
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

We should be intervening against him, not admiring him.

Why do we need to intervene against everyone?

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
I'm no fan of Duterte but let's not blame every single death on his war on drugs. To cite a couple of recent examples from where I live, there were two fatal shootings here that was initially reported as drug related but one turned out to be a love triangle and the other one a land dispute among family members. No media retraction on their reports.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea why did Duterte chose the war on drugs as the corner stone of his presidential campaign and administration? If we try to look back in history, it took about 200 years for China to win their war on drugs and the communist regime of Mao to literally put bullets in the heads of everyone involved in opium without any trial which by the way was started by the British and the Americans and later the Japanese.

Duterte initially promise to end the drug scourge in 6 months then changed it to a year, then later changed it at the end of his term in 2022. What can we expect from a loud and foul mouthed tough talking president?... there is a proverb that says "Shallow waters are noisy. Deep waters are silent."

If we come to think of it, even mud puddles can be noisy when ran over by a car and silent if left alone... yeah, I know... bad analogy.

a reply to: kelbtalfenek

Anecdotally i too have spoken to quite a lot of Filipinos, and they hate Duerte.

They say that the so called drug war is nothing short of an open season on political and social rivals where you can kill whoever you want with no fear of due process.

He's destroyed the rule of law and sanctioned random slaughters.

Great leader eh?

originally posted by: skalla
a reply to: kelbtalfenek

Anecdotally i too have spoken to quite a lot of Filipinos, and they hate Duerte.

They say that the so called drug war is nothing short of an open season on political and social rivals where you can kill whoever you want with no fear of due process.

He's destroyed the rule of law and sanctioned random slaughters.

Great leader eh?

I agree with you. I don't like the guy and I can see where this is going. The ones that I speak to that are against him are very vocal and very much oppose him, hate is a good word. But most of those that hate him are provincial. The ones in Pasig, QC, Paranaque, Manila, and the larger non-provincial cities seem to like him.

He has destroyed the rule of law, and even I can see that first it's the drug dealers, and secondly it's petty criminals...(everyone gets on his side then...yeah the streets are safer) then it's political rivals (they want the drugs back...they don't care if it's safe for you) then it's the intellectual rivals, and so on and so on... Shades of Pol Pot.

When his term is over, I have a feeling we will see a major political upheaval and possibly changes in the Filipino constitution...because someone will probably not want to leave office.

a reply to: kelbtalfenek

When his term is over, I have a feeling we will see a major political upheaval and possibly changes in the Filipino constitution...because someone will probably not want to leave office.

A scarier thought is the possibility of Manny Pacquiao as the next president of the Philippines.