Drug users aren’t human, says Duterte – Addict risks all in deadly Philippine drug war

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MANILA, Aug 28, (AFP): Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is waging a bloody war on crime, has justified the large-scale killing of drug users by suggesting the victims were not human. Duterte, who has seen about two thousand people killed since he was elected in May, made the remarks late Friday as he shrugged off the United Nations’ concerns over human rights in his country. “Crime against humanity? In the first place, I’d like to be frank with you: are they humans? What is your definition of a human being?” he told soldiers while visiting an army camp, according to transcripts of his speech released afterwards. “Human rights? Use it properly in the right context if you have the brains,” he added. “You cannot wage a war without killing,” Duterte said, adding that many drug users were beyond rehabilitation. His remarks came after various UN officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in June condemned his apparent support for extra-judicial killings.

The UN special rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, said earlier this month that his directives “amount to incitement to violence and killing, a crime under international law”. Duterte’s comments come after his national police chief Ronald Dela Rosa on Friday urged drug users to kill their traffickers and burn their homes. “Why don’t you give them a visit, pour gasoline on their homes and set these on fire to register your anger,” Dela Rosa said. He later apologised for his remarks. But Duterte defended Dela Rosa, saying “that’s my style. He is following it”.

Duterte also taunted the United Nations, saying “they want me to go prison? Do those idiots think I will be captured alive. My God, we will be together in hell.” Earlier this week, Dela Rosa told senators that over 750 people had been killed by police in anti-drug operations while more than a thousand had been slain by shadowy figures. Since then, even more people have been killed. Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a promise to kill tens of thousands of suspected criminals to prevent the Philippines from becoming a narco-state. He has vowed to protect policemen who may be charged as part of the campaign.

Pedicab driver Reyjin dives into a neighbour’s house for a quick meth fix, fearful of taking a bullet to the head in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs but un-able to quit. More than 2,000 people have died violent deaths since Duterte took office two months ago and immediately implemented his scorched-earth plans to eradicate drugs in society, ordering police to shoot dead traffickers and urging ordinary citizens to kill addicts. The bloodbath has seen unknown assailants kill more than half the victims, according to police statistics, raising fears that security forces and hired assassins are roaming through communities and shooting dead anyone suspected of being involved in drugs.

Armed police constantly circle in Reyjin’s Manila slum community, but he continues to snort the fumes of the highly addictive methamphetamine known as “shabu” that Duterte has warned is destroying the lives of millions of poor Filipinos. “It’s scary because I could be next,” said the gaunt, gap-toothed 28-yearold, speaking to AFP on the condition his identity not be revealed for security reasons. The father-of-three said two masked motorcycle gunmen riding in tandem on a motorcycle had shot dead a woman who sold small amounts of drugs to him and other residents. “She was sitting in the alley when she took two bullets to the head,” he said. Such riding-in-tandem murders are one of the most common forms of killings by the shadowy assassins. Often a piece of cardboard, with “drug peddler” or “drug addict” written on it, is placed on the corpse. This has led to the war on crime becoming known as “cardboard justice”.

Meanwhile, police have reported killing 756 people they have branded drug suspects. National police chief Ronald dela Rosa has repeatedly defended his officers, insisting they only kill when their own lives are in danger. However two policemen have been charged with murder over the jailhouse deaths of a father and son, who autopsies showed to have been beaten so badly before being shot that their limbs were broken.

The United Nations, the US government and human rights groups have expressed alarm at the bloodshed, with some critics warning the Philippines is in the midst of a reign of terror as authorities act with no regard for the law. Duterte and Dela Rosa have repeatedly insisted they are acting within the boundaries of the law, while accusing their critics of siding with the drug traffickers and ignoring the devastating consequences of what they describe as a national shabu crisis.

They say most of the unexplained deaths are being carried out by drug syndicates waging war on each other. Yet on the day he was sworn into office, Duterte gave a speech to a crowd in a Manila slum in which he called on them to kill drug addicts in their own community. And in an address to a group of drug addicts who had surrendered to police last week, Dela Rosa called on them to kill their suppliers and burn down their homes.

Dela Rosa later apologised for the comments, saying they were made because he was angry, but they nevertheless added to an atmosphere of a dramatic breakdown in the rule of law. In Reyjin’s Manila slum, the violence and security presence has slowed the drug trade and made shabu more expensive. But lots is still available, in what could be a worrying sign for Duterte who vowed during the election campaign that he could completely wipe out the trade within six months. “If you want to buy, you just go stand there on the street and somebody will approach you,” said Reyjin, who took his first hit of shabu when he was 13. “You hand over the money and he will tell you to wait and have somebody else deliver the drugs to you.”

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