Philippines: the hunt is on for drug users and traffickers

The President of the Phillipines, Rodrigo Duterte, is urging his fellow citizens to fight drug traffickers and consumers themselves.

57,000 euros for a dealer and 95,000 for a headliner

Nicknamed «The Punisher» for his security stance, Rodrigo Duterte was elected in May on the promise of ending corruption. Today, he is calling on his fellow citizens to take up arms against drug traffickers and consumers. «If you see a drug addict, go ahead and kill him«.

To motivate them, «The Punisher« promises a ransom for each dealer killed. The sums will amount to 3 million pesos (57,000€) for an ordinary dealer and 5 million (95,000€) for a gang leader or wholesaler.

He adds that citizens who take part in this purge will receive a medal for their actions. Addressing the Philippine Congress, he declared: «We will stop when the last trafficker, the last wholesaler and the last sponsor is behind bars or six feet under.

This manhunt has already reached 700 dead in just 3 months. Armed groups form and kill everything in their path. These militias also kill drug users without being bothered. The militias leave signatures on the bodies lying on the ground: »I am a drug dealer».»

«Fuck the United Nations».»

300 NGOs and associations call on the United Nations to react to this violation of human rights. In this open letter, the associations call on the President to adopt other methods, such as sending consumers to military camps for rehabilitation, instituting a fair trial and, above all, not reinstating the death penalty for simple consumption. Activists are awaiting a reaction from international bodies: «their silence is unacceptable, people are being killed every day in the street».

President Duterte doesn't care. For him, human rights cannot be used as a shield to destroy the country. Word for word: «Fuck the United Nations, they can't solve the carnage in the Middle East. They won't budge on the butchering of black people in Africa. Shut the fuck up!»

Before his election, he declared that the fight against drugs would cause 100,000 deaths, that the fish in Manila Bay would grow fat from eating corpses.