Uprising After Killing of Addicts in the Philippines

Almost a year ago, we posted a blog about the brutal war on drugs in the Philippines. Thousands of people have been killed in the war on drugs and many claim those deaths were at the hands of the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. In this war, he has made his police force judge, jury and executioner of those involved with drugs. Whether drug dealer or drug addict, both vigilantes and the police have been given a blessing to dispose of anyone involved with drugs.

While human-rights groups and activists have tried to push back against this in the Philippines, support from the people of the Philippines was at the highest as recent as last month.

That is until last weekend when police shot and killed 17-year-old Delos Santos, claiming he was a drug trafficker and that he fired a gun at them. Security camera footage later emerged showing something much different. It showed Delos asking to go home because he had school tomorrow then being escorted down an alley way where he was supposedly given a gun and told to run away before being gunned down.

After this, the usually supported president was put on the defensive. The first to speak out was Archbishop Socrates Villegas.

“Why are we no longer horrified by the sound of the gun and blood flowing on the sidewalks?” Villegas asked. "The country is in chaos. The officer who kills is rewarded and the slain gets the blame.” —The Atlantic

The Philippines are one of the last places of power for the Catholic church and this is not the first time they have butted heads with the president. What came next was astonishing. On the anniversary of Ferdinand Marco's death, over 1000 people took to the streets to protest the ongoing drug war and taken lives of drug addicts.

Their march was not unnoticed by President Duarte who turned his criticism to police. He finally admitted that in some cases, police could be abusing their power. For now, nothing is certain with policy or the war on drugs in the country. With certain Human Rights groups claiming the death toll to be somewhere between 7 and 13 thousand.

For those of us who live with addicts and care about them, we are fortunate enough to live in a country where treatment is possible. Don't take this for granted. Call us to help your loved one treatment for drug addiction.