The Philippine Drug War

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:00:11. > :00:25.The Philippines is being shaken by a 1-man revolution.

:00:26. > :00:32.If you try and kill me then I will kill you, you idiots. He is a

:00:33. > :00:39.powerful former mayor who has promised to wipe out drug dealers.

:00:40. > :00:42.His war on drugs has unleashed assassins like Maria.

:00:43. > :00:47.When I got near this person who owed a lot to my boss I went up close and

:00:48. > :00:55.then shot him. Everyday the bodies of suspected

:00:56. > :01:01.dealers are discovered. More than 3000 have been killed in three

:01:02. > :01:06.months. It's really scary hiding all the time. You don't know if the

:01:07. > :01:13.person right in front of you will inform on you or if he might be your

:01:14. > :01:18.killer. The police are raiding prisons and being forced to purge

:01:19. > :01:24.their own ranks. The war on drugs is really bloody and messy. And we all

:01:25. > :01:26.know that. This war is being fought in some of the poorest communities

:01:27. > :01:43.in the country. Over the past two decades, the

:01:44. > :01:50.Philippines has been swamped by the cheap and highly addictive drug

:01:51. > :01:56.crystal meth. It's known here by a different name. It destroys lives,

:01:57. > :02:01.breaks families and feeds a powerful criminal underworld. Filipinos are

:02:02. > :02:06.among the world's highest users of the drug. Official statistics say

:02:07. > :02:12.1.8 million people here are addicted. But recently elected

:02:13. > :02:19.president who do believe the true figure is more than double that. He

:02:20. > :02:20.has promised to stop it. By unleashing a violent campaign

:02:21. > :02:33.against the dealers. A late afternoon raid just outside

:02:34. > :02:39.Manila, part of President Rodrigo Duterte's antidrug campaign. In a

:02:40. > :02:46.country that's awash with guns as well as narcotics, they've come

:02:47. > :02:50.well-prepared. But what's striking is their target today. It's a

:02:51. > :03:23.prison. This is one of the largest prisons

:03:24. > :03:27.in Manila and we come in with a pretty large team of police, SWAT

:03:28. > :03:30.teams and by the look of them they were obviously expecting the

:03:31. > :03:38.possibility of serious armed resistance. Actually it's more like

:03:39. > :03:41.a drug surge in a standard prison with them checking where people keep

:03:42. > :03:48.their possessions, they have 1-man under arrest here. The drug problem

:03:49. > :03:52.is so serious here in the government's view that they have to

:03:53. > :03:57.send in teams like this into a prison that is technically

:03:58. > :04:02.controlled by the authorities. The inmates are all made to lie face

:04:03. > :04:07.down and search for any sign they may still be using or dealing drugs.

:04:08. > :04:12.The stench in these hot, overcrowded dormitories is overpowering. They

:04:13. > :04:20.think this man is an important dealer. But where is the other

:04:21. > :04:23.evidence they expected to find? Undercover officers have bought

:04:24. > :04:27.drugs here several times in recent weeks. But it seems this time the

:04:28. > :04:40.prisoners have been tipped off. In vain they press a Chinese prison

:04:41. > :04:46.for more information. Many of the drug syndicates operating in the

:04:47. > :04:55.Philippines are Chinese run. But all they can find is an assortment of

:04:56. > :04:59.rusty improvised weapons. These police officers, more than 200 of

:05:00. > :05:08.them, have been brought here from the other side of Manila. The local

:05:09. > :05:13.forces couldn't be trusted. That's how deeply the narcotics business

:05:14. > :05:17.has infiltrated this country. Do you think the campaign that is going on

:05:18. > :05:23.now will succeed, that it will wipe out drugs? Again that is the

:05:24. > :05:26.challenge and we will do our best to comply with the orders of the

:05:27. > :05:30.president to get rid of drugs in three to six months. You do have

:05:31. > :05:36.problems inside the police, there are some police officers involved in

:05:37. > :05:40.the trade? There are, that's part of the process, inside cleansing, we

:05:41. > :05:45.don't care if they are policeman, we have to get them, put them in jail

:05:46. > :05:50.and if they fight then we have to defend ourselves. It doesn't matter,

:05:51. > :06:02.if there are policemen involved, we have to get them.

:06:03. > :06:09.In many ways what's happening today in the Philippines and chilly start

:06:10. > :06:15.here at the monument to the first ever people power revolution 30

:06:16. > :06:18.years ago when a popular uprising overthrew the dictator Ferdinand

:06:19. > :06:24.Marcos and ushered in a boisterous and freewheeling democracy.

:06:25. > :06:29.Filipinos have kept faith with that democracy, voting in huge numbers

:06:30. > :06:32.every six years for a new president, yet everyone of those governments

:06:33. > :06:36.has bailed to come even close to meeting the hopes that were raised

:06:37. > :06:41.here, the old habits of corruption and abuses of power, lawlessness and

:06:42. > :06:44.grinding poverty would be curbed. And so the voters have now gone for

:06:45. > :07:02.something drastically different. They are elected outspoken mayor

:07:03. > :07:05.Rodrigo Duterte by a landslide. He has presented himself as an

:07:06. > :07:13.antiestablishment figure who can fix problems. He cares little for the

:07:14. > :07:18.polite conventions of politics, giving unscripted speech is often

:07:19. > :07:22.laced with obscenities. And what he calls the pandemic of

:07:23. > :07:28.methamphetamine addiction is at the very top of his list of things to

:07:29. > :07:35.do. We have seen a lot of ranting about human rights in my campaign

:07:36. > :07:44.against drugs. Let me be frank with you this afternoon, the fight

:07:45. > :07:53.against drugs will continue and will be unrelenting. If the resistance is

:07:54. > :07:58.violent thereby placing your life in jeopardy you shoot and shoot them

:07:59. > :08:05.dead. Can I be more clearer than that?

:08:06. > :08:12.The bodies of those suspected of involvement in drugs started turning

:08:13. > :08:18.up right after he took office. The police admit killing hundreds, or

:08:19. > :08:22.resisting arrest, they say. But many more have died at the hands of

:08:23. > :08:29.mysterious hit squads, the reasons for each death often unclear.

:08:30. > :08:35.This is a security camera video from a neighbourhood in time though,

:08:36. > :08:43.Manila, on the evening of the third of August. You can see local

:08:44. > :08:49.resident Dannii men in those buying something from a food stall. His

:08:50. > :08:54.young children playing around him. A motorbike then pulls up. The

:08:55. > :09:01.passenger then fires a single shot into his neck and he drives off. His

:09:02. > :09:07.wife is nearby and she rushes to help him, getting passers-by to lift

:09:08. > :09:09.him into a motor tricycle. But he died before they could get him to

:09:10. > :09:26.hospital. I went to talk to his wife,

:09:27. > :09:31.Christie, who runs her own small shop, and to his neighbours. Was he

:09:32. > :09:41.killed because of drugs? She told me he had been a user, but

:09:42. > :09:47.he had stopped right after Duterte was elected. He was not a dealer,

:09:48. > :09:53.she said. When we got talking to other family members, they said

:09:54. > :09:57.Danny low had been involved in illegal gambling together with some

:09:58. > :10:02.corrupt police officers. -- Anna Lo. He said he had had a disagreement

:10:03. > :10:10.with one policeman in the street where he was killed. That they

:10:11. > :10:16.believe was why he died. His assassin will probably never be

:10:17. > :10:25.identified. The hit squads blamed for more than half the killings

:10:26. > :10:32.remain in the shadows. But we did manage to meet one of them, a young

:10:33. > :10:39.mother we called Maria. For obvious reasons her identity's been

:10:40. > :10:44.concealed. Maria was brought into the contract killing business and

:10:45. > :10:49.she says by her husband, but she'd only shot one man before President

:10:50. > :10:57.Duterte's election victory. Since then she's killed another five. She

:10:58. > :11:00.has no idea why they were targeted, but she says her boss is a police

:11:01. > :11:16.officer who is involved in drugs. My husband was offered a job by a

:11:17. > :11:21.big-time policeman while he was in jail. He immediately said yes. A lot

:11:22. > :11:25.of people on this man money. He is also a big-time drug dealer. One

:11:26. > :11:35.time, when they needed a woman for someone a man could not get close

:11:36. > :11:42.to, my husband got me the job. I felt really scared and nervous

:11:43. > :11:47.because it was my first time. I just kept thinking I am doing this for my

:11:48. > :11:57.son. When I got near this person, who owed a lot to my boss, I went up

:11:58. > :12:02.close and then shot him. Killed was after president Duterte got elected.

:12:03. > :12:10.-- next time I killed. Since August I've killed five people. That's six

:12:11. > :12:17.in all. Watch the U feel about the people that you kill, because they

:12:18. > :12:24.have families too. Do you feel guilty? -- what do you feel. I do,

:12:25. > :12:28.because I have kids too. A do it because we don't have money, I do it

:12:29. > :12:32.for my children. I tell my husband that we can't keep doing this

:12:33. > :12:36.forever. I would not want my children to open their eyes to what

:12:37. > :12:39.we do. I don't want them to come back to us and say that they got to

:12:40. > :12:50.live because we killed for money. Maria's statements suggest a lot of

:12:51. > :12:53.the killing is done by people inside the drug trade, perhaps eliminating

:12:54. > :13:08.rivals or those who might incriminate more powerful figures.

:13:09. > :13:11.But the impact of the drug war is being felt largely in poor

:13:12. > :13:30.communities, like this one near central Manila.

:13:31. > :13:40.This man showed me around his district. He is the chairman and it

:13:41. > :13:49.is his job to keep an eye out for trouble. This is a senior citizen,

:13:50. > :13:54.my president. Very nice to meet you. I am Jonathan. Nice to meet you.

:13:55. > :13:57.Crime is a big concern here and talking to the President it is clear

:13:58. > :14:02.that president Duterte's way of dealing with it is popular. They

:14:03. > :14:14.like the fact that he is humble and down-to-earth, they say. But Edgar

:14:15. > :14:19.knows of 16 Crystal meth addict is living in his area. Most of them are

:14:20. > :14:24.monthly petty cab drivers. He has had the difficult jobs of getting

:14:25. > :14:35.them to register with the police just to keep them alive. They are

:14:36. > :14:41.afraid because of the president. They are worried about their life,

:14:42. > :14:45.their family, mothers, brothers. They are worried that once they are

:14:46. > :14:56.caught, they know what will happen. They might be killed? Yeah, so they

:14:57. > :15:02.are really afraid. A few of the former Addicks have joined the local

:15:03. > :15:10.council as volunteers. But there are no rehabilitation facilities here or

:15:11. > :15:13.anywhere else in Manila for them. Nor is there much sympathy from

:15:14. > :15:19.their neighbours who applaud the President's Cup stand. This woman is

:15:20. > :15:24.a widow who teaches in the local primary school. She told me that the

:15:25. > :15:29.parents of six children in her class are drug addicts and she says it is

:15:30. > :15:36.worse in other schools. The bottomline is drugs and the poor

:15:37. > :15:47.people engage in drugs because in drugs they can make money, because

:15:48. > :15:58.drugs now can be bought in very... Chip... Low price. I believe in

:15:59. > :16:05.Duterte's vision of cleaning and killing the land and society. I

:16:06. > :16:07.believe in him. So when I found out that he will run for president, I

:16:08. > :16:15.supported him. But can his anti-drug campaign

:16:16. > :16:32.succeed? More than 700,000 addicts have

:16:33. > :16:35.already registered with the police. Here they are adding their names

:16:36. > :16:42.before joining a morning exercise routine in front of one of Manila's

:16:43. > :16:50.main churches. Trying to work the drug out of their system with some

:16:51. > :16:58.fast footwork. Led by Manila's finest. The police hope this will

:16:59. > :17:02.help to keep former Addicks away from the drug, but in truth it

:17:03. > :17:10.exposes the lack of any alternative treatment for them. And you have to

:17:11. > :17:19.wonder how long a police force, busy cleansing its own ranks, can keep up

:17:20. > :17:27.this energetic community work. Excuse me, sir. The police are also

:17:28. > :17:33.expected to make house calls to check on registered addicts. This is

:17:34. > :17:40.one of the roughest of Manila's neighbourhoods. And the police major

:17:41. > :17:50.is doing his rounds, checking whether one-time drug users are

:17:51. > :17:56.slipping back into their old habits. This man is recognised as the

:17:57. > :18:02.husband of a known crystal meth use. You had better stay off it, the

:18:03. > :18:09.major warns him. They've already nabbed one couple with a

:18:10. > :18:13.methamphetamine pipe. They are made to March, handcuffed, with the

:18:14. > :18:21.police on a walk of shame through the community. This man was an

:18:22. > :18:28.addict for a year. Now he must put up with having his home searched

:18:29. > :18:34.every week. But at least this way he can be reasonably sure of staying

:18:35. > :18:38.alive. How do you know if they are clean or not? If they are still

:18:39. > :18:40.using or not? If we can hear some reports... You talk to their

:18:41. > :18:56.neighbours? Yes. Back at the police station the

:18:57. > :19:02.handcuffed couple are booked. Their two children look on tearfully. This

:19:03. > :19:07.isn't the first time their parents have been caught, as they may now

:19:08. > :19:12.have to move to one of the overcrowded jails. They are just

:19:13. > :19:28.uses, small-time players. None of this really solves the country's

:19:29. > :19:33.drug problem. Bigger dealers, like Roger, not his real name, have

:19:34. > :19:37.instead chosen to go into hiding. He says much of his business was with

:19:38. > :19:43.corrupt police officers and he is convinced they would kill him if

:19:44. > :19:47.they surrendered. It is much better to run. My colleagues who

:19:48. > :19:52.surrendered are now dead. If I surrender they kill me. So why

:19:53. > :20:00.should I surrender? Don't you ever feel guilty about the job you do?

:20:01. > :20:03.You're selling drugs that are very destructive to people.

:20:04. > :20:10.Methamphetamine is a very destructive drug. I do believe I

:20:11. > :20:14.have committed sings, it seems big-time. I have wronged a lot of

:20:15. > :20:18.people. Some people have become addicted to drugs and because I am

:20:19. > :20:25.one of the people who sells the drugs. What I can say is it depends

:20:26. > :20:32.on the person. I can't say that everyone who takes drugs, commits

:20:33. > :20:42.crimes, they steal or kill. Need? I am also an addict, they don't kill.

:20:43. > :20:46.I am an addict, but I don't steal. Roger plans to stay hidden for a few

:20:47. > :20:50.months and then get back to business. He doesn't believe

:20:51. > :20:57.president Duterte can keep his campaign going for much longer.

:20:58. > :21:03.Maria would like to get out of the killing business, but she says she

:21:04. > :21:07.can't. Do you ever wished that you hadn't started this? That perhaps

:21:08. > :21:11.you hadn't started killing, or do you feel you have no choice? From

:21:12. > :21:16.now on I don't want to do it any more. I'll leave it to my husband.

:21:17. > :21:30.But my boss says that if one of us tries to leave, we'll be killed.

:21:31. > :21:44.Millions of Filipinos, though, still holds faith in their new president.

:21:45. > :21:48.But, unlike his predecessors, he can check this country out of its bad

:21:49. > :21:54.habits. Many believe the Philippines needs another strongman. But

:21:55. > :22:00.transforming this disorderly island nation of 100 million people may yet

:22:01. > :22:02.prove too much, even for a man who is as ruthless and determined as

:22:03. > :22:28.Rodrigo Duterte.