Human Rights Violations in the Philippines

Just six months into the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, already more than 7,000 have died in a bloody “war on drugs” that was sanctioned by the new administration in the Philippines (Amnesty International UK). That means that 34 people are killed each day from July 2016 to January 2017. Under the drug war, human rights are being violated by state forces and vigilante groups—both of whom enjoy impunity in the absence of due process.

Not only were the killings endorsed by the state, but they were also incentivized. A police officer interviewed by Amnesty International UK said,

"We always get paid by the encounter…The amount ranges from 8,000 pesos ($160) to 15,000 pesos ($300)… That amount is per head. So if the operation is against four people, that’s 32,000 pesos ($640)… We’re paid in cash, secretly, by headquarters…There’s no incentive for arresting. We’re not paid anything. It never happens that there’s a shootout and no one is killed (Amnesty International UK)."

The financial incentive, which amounts to almost a third or half of a month’s pay in the Philippines, has in its own way fueled the state-sponsored killings.

Likewise, it has also been reported that police officers have been working with vigilante groups to do some of the extrajudicial executions. The groups in question often carried out their jobs with two motorcycle-borne people arriving, shooting their targets, then speeding away—a practice locally known as “riding in-tandem” (Amnesty International UK).

The targets are those put into a dubious list by local government officials. With little verification done to the list, many innocent people became unfortunate casualties of the drug war—as “their names could be added arbitrarily because of a vendetta or because there are incentives to kill greater numbers of people deemed drug users and sellers,” says Amnesty International UK.

With the killings ignoring the due process and being sanctioned and incentivized by the Duterte administration, the Philippines continues to grapple with human rights issues. The Philippine government, to this day, continues to proliferate the abuses. Thus, under the ongoing drug war, human rights and the rule of law are merely afterthoughts.

WORK CITED

“Over 7,000 People Killed in Six Months in Philippines 'War on Drugs'.” Amnesty International UK, Amnesty International UK, 18 May 2020, www.amnesty.org.uk/philippines-president-duterte-war-on-drugs-thousands-killed.