Asia

In The Philippines, Dealing With Drugs Could Be A Death Sentence

More than 700 people have reportedly been killed as part of a drug crackdown since Rodrigo Duterte won the presidential election in May.

In The Philippines, Dealing With Drugs Could Be A Death Sentence
Getty Images / Dondi Tawatao
Article by Jake Godin
SMS
August 3, 2016

The Philippines is solving its drug problem — by killing people.

More than 700 suspected drug users or dealers have been killed in the Philippines — and that's just in the past three months.

"Feel free to call us the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support," Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said during a Thanksgiving party in June.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won the election by a landslide in May. Since then, an average of more than nine people have been killed every day. 

Around 40 percent were killed by either unidentified gunmen or were found with a drug-related sign near them. The rest were killed by police.

Thousands of drug users or dealers have reportedly flooded into rehabilitation centers or surrendered themselves. 

But human rights groups have criticized the extrajudicial killings. 

The International Drug Policy Consortium published a letter urging international drug agencies to condemn the widespread killing. More than 300 other NGOs signed the letter.

This video includes clips from ABS-CBN, Rappler and Presidential Broadcast Staff Radio Television Malacañang and images from Getty Images.