300 Suspected drug dealers have been killed in the Philippines in one month since the start of July

A protester in the Philippines demonstrating against Duterte’s extrajudicial killings.   Image from Wikipedia.

DailyMail article  explains that almost 300 people have been killed by vigilante police officers operating outside the law in the Philippines since July in Rodrigo Duterte’s extrajudicial war on illegal drugs, with Duterte actually encouraging people to execute whoever they suspect of being a drug dealer without their victims being given any sort of legal due process.

The article contains images of wives and other family members clutching the lifeless bodies of the victims of the executions.

“’Double your efforts. Triple them if need be,’ Mr Duterte told police.”

[Note: The text and image of this article has been updated on March 7, 2020.]

60 Suspected drug dealers have been killed in the Philippines from the beginning of May to the end of June since Rodrigo Duterte was elected

Image from Flickr.

Following is a summary of an International Business Times article

Duterte said in a recent press conference: “Most of you are clean, but do not ever expect that journalists are all clean.  They take sides.  Just because you are a journalist you are not exempted from assassination if you’re a son of a bitch.”

In the two months since president-elect of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte was elected from the beginning of May to the end of June, over 60 people have been killed by police or roving gangs who accused the victims of being drug dealers, with the killers often leaving hand written notes on the corpses.

When Duterte was previously asked what will happen to criminals once he becomes President, he said “The 1,000 [I allegedly killed] will become 100,000. That will fatten the fish in Manila Bay.  I will dump their bodies there.”

The following link mentions that many of the killings are likely being committed by police who have been in league with the drug dealers and are trying to cover their tracks.