“License to Kill”

sanctioned death squads in cities including Cebu City, Toledo, and Carcar on the island
of Cebu. 27
Human Rights Watch’s investigations of summary killings in Tagum City, 50 kilometers north
of Davao City, found that Rey Uy, the city’s mayor from 1998 to 2013, created a death squad
that mirrored the modus operandi of the Davao Death Squad. 28 By 2005, the Tagum Death
Squad had morphed into a guns-for-hire operation whose targets included businessmen,
police officers, an indigenous tribe leader, a judge, and former death squad members. 29
Duterte the “Death Squad” President?
Since taking office on June 30, 2016,
Duterte has initiated an anti-drug
campaign premised on baseless claims
that the Philippines is in the midst of a
“drug emergency” and is spiraling toward
the status of a “narco state.” 30 He even
released a list of public officials with
“
If I become president, I advise
you people to put up several
funeral parlor businesses
because I am against illegal
drugs … I might kill someone
because of it.”
―Rodrigo Duterte, November 27, 2015
alleged links to illegal drugs. 31
In his public pronouncements, Duterte has cited different statistics to justify his “war on
drugs,” most recently saying that the number of drug users in the Philippines will grow to
four million, hence the need “to stop it now.” 32 The Dangerous Drugs Board, in its latest
27 “More Vigilante-Style Killings Reported in Davao City,” WikiLeaks, January 20, 2005,
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/05MANILA312_a.html (accessed December 13, 2016).
28 Human Rights Watch, One Shot to the Head: Death Squad Killings in Tagum City, Philippines, May 2014,
https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/05/20/one-shot-head/death-squad-killings-tagum-city-philippines.
29 Ibid.
30 John Paolo Bencito, “Duterte: Kill all the ‘narco-pols,’” Manila Standard, August 6, 2016,
http://thestandard.com.ph/news/headlines/212509/duterte-kill-all-the-narco-pols-.html (accessed December 13, 2016).
31 Rosette Adel, “Public officials Duterte said are involved in illegal drugs,” philstar.com, August 7, 2016,
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/08/07/1611013/list-public-officials-duterte-said-are-involved-illegal-drugs
(accessed December 13, 2016).
32 Edith Regalado, “‘Addicts to reach 4 M, so let’s stop this now,’” Philippine Star, September 25, 2016, http://www.
philstar.com/headlines/2016/09/25/1627232/addicts-reach-4-m-so-lets-stop-now (accessed December 12, 2016).
31 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MARCH 2017