“License to Kill”

statistics available, puts the number of drug users at 1.3 million. 33 This is actually a
significant decline from the 6.7 million that the Dangerous Drugs Board recorded in 2004. 34
A Reuters investigative report raised concerns about the “dubious data” being used by the
Duterte administration to push its anti-drug campaign, quoting officials as saying “data on
the total number of drug users, the number of users needing treatment, the types of drugs
being consumed and the prevalence of drug-related crime is exaggerated, flawed or nonexistent.”
35 Time magazine sought to debunk Duterte’s justifications for the killings by
reporting that the Philippines’s crime rate is not as bad as the president depicts it to be.
“In the five years from 2010 to ’15, PNP [Philippine National Police] figures show that total
murders across the nation’s top 15 cities averaged 1,202 a year. But many more people
have already died in the first seven weeks of Duterte’s drug war,” the report said. 36 The
Philippine drug problem, it added, is not as bad as Australia’s, for example. 37
Since becoming president, Duterte has boasted about killings by the police during antidrug
operations and even ordered the police and public to kill more. 38 The day he took his
oath of office, Duterte told a crowd mostly from Manila’s Tondo slums: “If you know of any
addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too
painful.” 39 He has also publicly told police officers that he would pardon them if they killed
drug dealers and drug addicts. 40 “Do your duty,” Duterte said on his third day in office.
33 Dangerous Drugs Board, “Facts About Drug Abuse,” May 23, 2013, http://www.ddb.gov.ph/newsroom/46-sidebar/58-
facts-on-drugs (accessed December 12, 2016).
34 Dangerous Drugs Board, “A Study on the Current Nature and Extent of Drug Abuse in the Philippines,” 2008, http://www.
ddb.gov.ph/images/psrsd_report/2008%20National%20Household%20Survey.pdf (accessed December 12, 2016).
35 Clare Baldwin and Andrew R.C. Marshall, “As death toll rises, Duterte deploys dubious data in ‘war on drugs,’” Reuters,
October 18, 2016, http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-duterte-data/ (accessed December 12,
2016).
36 Rishi Iyengar, “The Killing Time: Inside Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s War on Drugs,” Time, August 25, 2016,
http://time.com/4462352/rodrigo-duterte-drug-war-drugs-philippines-killing/ (accessed December 13, 2016).
37 Ibid.
38 Christina Mendez, “Duterte to PNP: Kill 1,000, I’ll protect you,” Philippine Star, July 2, 2016, http://www.philstar.com/
headlines/2016/07/02/1598740/duterte-pnp-kill-1000-ill-protect-you (accessed December 12, 2016).
39 “Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte urges people to kill drug addicts,” Guardian, June 30, 2016,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/01/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-urges-people-to-kill-drug-addicts
(accessed December 13, 2016).
40 Raymon Dullana, “Duterte: I'll pardon cops who kill criminals, civilians in line of duty,” Rappler, February 11, 2016, http://
www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2016/122044-duterte-pardon-cops-kill-criminals (accessed December 12, 2016).
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