“License to Kill”

Methodology
From October 2016 to January 2017, Human Rights Watch investigated 24 incidents of
killings of alleged drug dealers and users, involving 32 victims, that occurred in Metro
Manila, the National Capital Region of the Philippines, and nearby provinces since
President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June 30, 2016. These were a small percentage of
the more than 7,080 such killings that the latest statistics from the Philippine National
Police indicate have occurred between July 1, 2016 and January 31, 2017. 3
Because such killings were ongoing at the time of the research, Human Rights Watch took
extensive security precautions to ensure the security of witnesses and relatives of the
victims. The impoverished urban neighborhoods where most killings have taken place
have a high presence of police informants who can be expected to pass on information
about human rights investigations into alleged abuses by the police. So rather than
interview people in their neighborhoods, Human Rights Watch spoke to relatives and
witnesses in locations where they could be interviewed safely and in private. Interviews
were conducted in Tagalog, the dominant language in the Manila area, through the use of
an interpreter.
For security reasons, the names of witnesses and relatives interviewed by Human Rights
Watch are not included in the report, and other identifying information has also been
withheld. Human Rights Watch did not provide incentives to persons interviewed, although
we did reimburse the travel and telecommunication costs of interviews, and provided food
at mealtimes.
In almost all cases, Human Rights Watch was able to obtain the initial police version of
events, contained in police records as “spot” or “incident” reports. The information
contained in those reports is also included in our report, and contrasted with the
information we collected from witnesses and relatives.
3 Michael Bueza, “In Numbers: The Philippines' 'war on drugs,'” Rappler, January 31, 2017, http://www.rappler.com/
newsbreak/iq/145814-numbers-statistics-philippines-war-drugs (accessed February 14, 2017).
25 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MARCH 2017