#rodrigo duterte

[tomorrowusa]

Just in time for the US elections, Philippines authoritarian former president Rodrigo Duterte freely admits he employed a death squad.

The 79-year-old, making his first public appearance on Monday since his term ended in 2022, said he offered “no apologies, no excuses” for his presidency, during which as many as 30,000 people were killed in a “war on drugs”. “My mandate as president of the republic was to protect the country and the Filipino people. Do not question my policies, because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country,” he said. Duterte had entered the hearing walking with a stick and was defiant throughout, often cursing as he addressed senators.

None of what he's proud of doing had anything to do with Philippines law or international standards of human rights.

“I can make the confession now if you want,” Duterte said. “I had a death squad of seven, but they were not policemen, they were also gangsters.” “I’ll ask a gangster to kill somebody,” Duterte said. “If you will not kill [that person], I will kill you now.” When asked by senators for further details of the death squad, he said he would give more information at the next hearing. Duterte also said that he ordered officers to encourage criminals to fight back and resist arrest, so that police could then justify killing them. “What I said is this, let’s be frank, I said encourage the criminal to fight, encourage them to draw their guns. That was my instruction, encourage them to fight, and if they fight, then kill them so my problem in my city is done,” he said, in comments reported by Rappler, an independent news outlets.

When voters fail to keep lowlifes like Duterte, Putin, or Trump out of power they get lawless gangsterism and corruption.

If some shithead claims "only I can solve the country's problems" then it's probable that this person is one of the country's problems.

[aphroditesknife]

Been seeing a lot of "Kakampinks" (Leni Robredo supporters during the last Philippines election) saying "Tama nga kami" (we were right all along). This is a jab to those who voted for the current President and Vice President of the Philippines, who currently on bad relations with each other, pointing fingers about who is the incompetent one. Spoiler alert: it's both of them.

Anyways, being smug about the election choices that people make does NOT help with the greater cause and what are the real sides of this fight - the ruling class in power and the working class.

Raoul Manuel of the Kabataan Partylist and Member of the Philippine House of Representatives put it so well in the following tweet he posted:

Rough translation:

Friendly advice to allies for good governance:

It is not enough that we are right. We need to reach out to those who can become additional allies, including those who have doubts and are questioned about their decisions. Let's multiply and act together.

It is the strategy of the deceivers to label and consider as enemies those who do not share another's views. Let's be on guard not to be like them.

Potential allies will distance us if, consciously or not, we appear self-righteous or arrogant.

Fight!

[isobelleposts]

Recalling My Childhood Through Patricia Evangelista’s “Some People Need Killing”

By Cassandra Isobelle [June 5, 2024]

[Cover of “Some People Need Killing” by Patricia Evangelista

I was only 9-years-old when Rodrigo Duterte was declared winner of the presidential election back in 2016. I was privileged enough to not witness the War on Drugs up-close and not have to worry about whether my father would be alive the next day or not.

But even so, my recollection of his Presidency was never good. During car rides with my family, I would hear my grandparents swear at the former President and talk about the latest news—the words “bastos” and “manyak” thrown about and engraved in my impression of him. All I knew was that my family did not like him. I saw how opinions would tear friendships and relatives apart, and it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I began formulating my own thoughts and understanding what had led up to such ruthless comments on the internet.

[Sonya Gregorio, fifty-two, and Frank Anthony, twenty-five, moments before being shot by police officer Jonel Nuezca - December 20, 2020]

It was around the time this video went viral that I was awakened to what was happening in our country. I was told not to watch it because of its violence, and so I never did until recently when it was mentioned in this book. It made me realize how easy it is to scroll past an article or video on Facebook and continue your life wholly unaffected and unknowing of the story behind them, simply because it was not your life taken.

For the majority, life during Duterte’s term was normal. For reporters and journalists, on the other hand, it was a different case.

”I was furious instead at everyone who announced their indignation after ignoring a four-year parade of coffins.

Page 293 of “Some People Need Killing”

The numbers presented on the news of the Extrajudicial Killings were large, but not enough for the people to take action. It wasn’t enough that these cases were published through news articles day after day by people that stayed up just to tell the victims’ stories. It wasn’t enough until there were videos.

[Former President Rodrigo Duterte in Malabon, Metro Manila - April 27, 2016]

At some point in reading this book I started noticing how repetitive it can be. Case after case of killings; the same excuses, the same uniforms, the same stories but different characters. — This book is a reflection of Duterte’s leadership; an unending cycle.

”Kill, for example. It’s a word my president uses often. He said it at least 1,254 times in the first six months of his presidency, in a variety of contexts against his enemies.”

Page 6 of “Some People Need Killing”

Kill the drug addicts. Kill the activists. Kill the journalists. Kill them, period.

Patricia Evangelista’s efforts are present in the way this book captured so many details—the people she had to talk to, the stories she had to hear, and the bodies she had to witness just to complete this book. “Some People Need Killing” is a memoir, not just of the author's life but of the country’s.

[misspeppermint2003]

⭐️ Friday Vote Battle (Round 58) ⭐️

[maya-chirps]

Bro the girls are fighting he literally just said he was high on fentanyl 💀💀💀

[coochiequeens]

De Lima was arrested in 2017, months after she had launched a senate inquiry into Duterte’s brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which is the subject of an investigation by the international criminal court.

The most prominent critic of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs” has been granted bail, after more than six years in jail on what rights groups condemned as trumped-up charges.

Leila de Lima, 64, a former senator and human rights commissioner, emerged from court on Monday to cheers from supporters, who chanted “Justice” and “Leila will soon be free”.

Surrounded by crowds of media and police escorts, she said: “For years, my whole being has been crying out for justice and freedom … For more than six long years I’ve been praying, praying so hard for this day to come.”

De Lima was arrested in 2017, months after she had launched a senate inquiry into Duterte’s brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which is the subject of an investigation by the international criminal court.

Duterte had accused her of receiving payoffs from drugs gangs while she was justice minister, and she faced three drug-related charges, two of which have been dismissed. She has always denied any wrongdoing.

On Monday, she was granted bail in the final pending case, which she had sought on health grounds.

UN human rights experts, as well the European parliament, have long called for her release, and witnesses who testified against her have recanted their statements.

De Lima has said the charges were an act of revenge by Duterte, who she described at the time of her arrest as “a murderer and a sociopathic serial killer”.

She had long criticised his governance. In her former role as chair of the national Commission on Human Rights, De Lima had sought to expose killings by so-called “death squads” in Davao City, where Duterte was mayor for more than two decades.

De Lima was considered the most prominent political prisoner under his administration. In prison she continued her work as a senator, issuing handwritten statements from detention, often condemning Duterte’s governance. She was unable to campaign in the 2022 election, however, and lost an attempt to run again for a senate position.

On Monday, De Lima thanked her legal team, as well as the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Duterte’s successor. His administration had, she said, respected “the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law”.

Marcos has previously said he would not cooperate with an ICC investigation into the drugs war killings.

Between 12,000 and 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in connection with anti-drugs operations from July 2016 to March 2019, according to data cited by the ICC.

Government data estimates are lower, and say at least 6,252 people were killed in police operations between July 2016, and May 2022. Police have said any killings were only in self-defence.

[socialpoison]

https://x.com/denimcatfish/status/1705002593863537089?s=12&t=XWSmobHha9ZbB-FKd06RwQ

[panicinthestudio]

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa on How to Stand Up to a Dictator, December 7, 2022

As Russians are standing strong against Putin's authoritarian rule, our next guest is no stranger to taking on dictators. Journalist and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa is a fearless defender of freedom, exposing corruption and abuse of power in the Philippines. Ressa joins Michel Martin to discuss her new book "How to Stand Up to a Dictator" and to offer tactics for fighting authoritarianism.

Amanpour and Company

[whatisonthemoon]

On How the Moonies Take Advantage of Imperialist Crises in Today’s Philippines

▲ Pictured: A class at the International Peace Leadership College prior to the rehabilitation program

The Philippines has a long history of facing violence and exploitation, as well as violent repression. The brutal crackdown on alleged drug users and dealers by President Rodrigo Duterte’s “War on Drugs” is one example that has has left over 27,000, mostly from poor and working-class backgrounds, murdered.  Thousands of others have been subjected to extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate bombing, and widespread human rights abuses at the hands of the government and its security forces, under both Duterte and Marcos Jr., often for alleged "terrorist activity". This violence is directly linked to the country's history of imperialism and feudalism, which continue to shape Philippine society today. 

The Unification Church, also known as the Moonies, has taken advantage of this exploitative system in a number of ways. One way, since at least the early 90s, has been to deceive women in the Philippines into marrying men in South Korea. Many of these women joined the Unification Church out of sincere faith in Moon, believing that they had found a God-centered “solution” to the problems of society, and were receiving their “matching” out of religious duty. Many were also tricked into joining the Unification Church, having the matching and blessing framed as a career opportunity abroad, with some of their families pushing them to go through with the matching so they could send financial support back from abroad. Many of these women were of course sent to church-owned factories or to become “help” for church leaders, some were even directly brought into the sex trade, but thousands are known to have been matched to farmers in rural Korea who were not church members but had saw an ad in the newspaper put out by the UC, framing the blessing as a marriage service. According to Toshiko Tsujimoto in "Church Organization and Its Networks for the Filipino Migrants: Surviving and Empowering in Korea," the Filipino Catholic Center in Seoul had women escaping these marriages come to their doors almost every day in the 2000s, speaking up about the abuse and violence they were enduring. The UC, in cooperation with their front organization and “Abel UN” Universal Peace Federation, have also taken advantage of Duterte’s War on Drugs. The church operates the International Peace Leadership College (ILPC), which was originally a seminary for Philippine Moonies but now it trains arrested drug users in Unification theology and martial arts and "character education,” as well as having these “students” (inmates) do community service.

Many of the participants in this program eventually join the church and become members of its student group, CARP. The program has been used as a recruitment tool for the Unification Church, and its ultimate goal is to prepare a thousand missionaries to go out into the world every year.

The UC has poured millions of dollars into courting many of the Philippines’ top families belonging to this bureaucrat capitalist class that controls the government, military, and economy. The UC in the Philippines is known for their “VIP Providence,” which had members faithfully tend to the country’s top government, military, and cultural leaders. The UC has also paid many of these leaders to attend their conferences, speak at events, and become members of their various organizations and boards.  The violences of the Unification Church go back beyond the 90s, as UC members were known to have organized in the Philippines on behalf of the WACL in the 70s, and later on CAUSA and other related organizations. These organizations were also said to have funded and organized vigilante violence against communists, even supporting paramilitary “death squad” groups that are responsible for the deaths of thousands who were rumored to be connected or sympathetic to communism. This includes thousands of social workers, teachers, nuns, priests, activists, etc., since the ousting of Marcos.  These groups often coordinate with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, and can effectively act as a cover for the Philippine government to avoid accountability. These groups have been identified countless times posing as “New Peoples Army,” committing heinous terrorist attacks as a form of “black propaganda” against the communists.

The legacy of the violent drug policies and the historic “labor export” policies are already continuing under the new president, Bongbong Marcos, and his vice-president, Duterte's daughter, as countless Filipinos continue to be red-tagged, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered. The Philippines remains a country deeply affected by the legacy of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism, and its citizens continue to be vulnerable to exploitation and violence from both local and international actors, including from the Korea-based Unification Church and its related organizations. Even with the abhorrent repression, the Filipino people continue to organize and struggle to overthrow feudalism, bureaucrat captailism, and imperialism. It is worth learning from their work and struggle, which has fueled a 50-year war for social and national liberation, and doing what we can to support them!

Related articles

One Account of Being Trafficked into Prostitution Through UC “Blessing”

Human trafficking is despicable. Here is one Filipina’s story of slavery in the Unification Church

The UC should be held responsible for supplying weapons that killed young Filipino activists

The Broad Counterinsurgency Strategies of the US in the 80s, and a Glimpse into the UC’s Role

In 1985 the Washington Times sponsored a fund for the Contras who committed atrocities, and trafficked drugs to the US

Moonies demanded $2,000 from Koreans who wanted to have Filipinas as “housemaids and sex partners.”

UNESCO Report: Korean-Filipino marriages under the UC sparked controversy and animosity

[nicdevera]

duterte says he takes “full responsibility” for the drug war, but denies that he’s liable for the deaths? then says in tagalog into the mic: “for a long time now i’ve been killing people, why hasn’t the justice dept filed a case on me?” what does he even think he’s saying, dancing back and forth between admitting/bragging into a hot mic, then saying you can’t pin the murders on me. i wonder if he knows what he’s saying.

[trendynewsnow]

Duterte Defends War on Drugs in Senate Hearing Amid ICC Investigation

Duterte Defends His Controversial War on Drugs Before Senate The former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, recently took the stand to defend his infamous war on drugs during a Senate hearing. He asserted that he bears “full legal responsibility” for the campaign that resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings, a topic currently under investigation by the International Criminal…

[tomorrowusa]

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with co-recipient Dmitry Muratov.

Ms. Ressa has stood up to autocrats in the Philippines and is founder of the respected news site Rappler.

In her new book How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future she devotes four chapters to the toxic effects of social media on democracy.

She makes the point that social media platforms are not being held responsible for content and therefore get away with misinformation, libel, and incitement.

I would add that by continuing to use problematic platforms, we empower them to continue policies which degrade democracy while growing the wealth of the owners and shareholders of such companies.

It’s necessary to be more discriminating in our choice of platforms. We should not empower malevolent billionaires with anti-democratic agendas.

If you liked Maria Ressa’s conversation with Velshi, you might also find interesting her recent appearance on NPR.

Journalist Maria Ressa explains 'How to Stand Up to a Dictator'

In general, Americans need to take more interest in the Philippines. The country still suffers from some of the lingering aftereffects of President William McKinley’s attempt to turn it into a US colony after the Spanish-American War.

@npr @dnlfelix

[radioshiga]

Ex-presidente Duterte se candidata a prefeito de Davao nas Filipinas

Tóquio, Japão, 8 de outubro de 2024 – Agência de Notícias Kyodo – O ex-presidente das Filipinas, Rodrigo Duterte, anunciou nesta segunda-feira (7) que registrou sua candidatura para prefeito de Davao, a maior cidade da ilha de Mindanao, no sul do país. A decisão foi revelada por Duterte em suas redes sociais, marcando seu retorno à política local nas eleições de meio de mandato previstas para…

[maya-chirps]

de lima's gonna sue ex-pres. duterte??? das craaaaaaazy

[aphroditesknife]

Original post by @ peoplestribunalph (Instagram)

𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇: 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐏𝐓 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐞 (𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒)

An excerpt from the testimony of Brandon Lee on the assassination attempt against him by elements of the Philippine military.

On August 6, 2019, Northern Dispatch correspondent and human rights officer Brandon Lee was shot and seriously injured by 2 unnamed soldiers just outside of his residence in Ifugao province. Lee is a permanent resident of the Philippines married to an Igorot, an indigenous people from the Cordillera region with whom he has a daughter. Prior to this, Brandon had been consistently subjected to different threats and harassment, even in social media, by the members of the Philippine Army for his human rights work and advocacy.

After the incident, he was brought back to the US for further treatment but was rendered quadriplegic because of injury to his C4 spinal cord. He was paralyzed from the chest down, and has been unable to use his hands and legs.

Watch the full recording of Brandon's testimony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQSPFieRH-8

Brandon is currently on a speaking tour for just peace in the Philippines with @ichrp_us @justice4brandonlee

#FightLikeBLee

The IPT was co-convened by @friends_ffps and @iadllaw and held in Brussels, Belgium, from May 17-18, 2024. On May 18 the Tribunal issued a unanimous verdict finding President Marcos Jr., former President Duterte, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, President Joseph Biden, and the U.S. government guilty of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.

Read the initial verdict here: https://peoplestribunal.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IPT-2024-INITIAL-Verdict-18-May.pdf