The Philippine Drug War Our World

The Philippines is being shaken by a 1-man revolution.

If you try and kill me then I will kill you, you idiots. He is a

powerful former mayor who has promised to wipe out drug dealers.

His war on drugs has unleashed assassins like Maria.

When I got near this person who owed a lot to my boss I went up close and

then shot him. Everyday the bodies of suspected

dealers are discovered. More than 3000 have been killed in three

months. It's really scary hiding all the time. You don't know if the

person right in front of you will inform on you or if he might be your

killer. The police are raiding prisons and being forced to purge

their own ranks. The war on drugs is really bloody and messy. And we all

know that. This war is being fought in some of the poorest communities

in the country. Over the past two decades, the

Philippines has been swamped by the cheap and highly addictive drug

crystal meth. It's known here by a different name. It destroys lives,

breaks families and feeds a powerful criminal underworld. Filipinos are

among the world's highest users of the drug. Official statistics say

1.8 million people here are addicted. But recently elected

president who do believe the true figure is more than double that. He

has promised to stop it. By unleashing a violent campaign

against the dealers. A late afternoon raid just outside

Manila, part of President Rodrigo Duterte's antidrug campaign. In a

country that's awash with guns as well as narcotics, they've come

well-prepared. But what's striking is their target today. It's a

prison. This is one of the largest prisons

in Manila and we come in with a pretty large team of police, SWAT

teams and by the look of them they were obviously expecting the

possibility of serious armed resistance. Actually it's more like

a drug surge in a standard prison with them checking where people keep

their possessions, they have 1-man under arrest here. The drug problem

is so serious here in the government's view that they have to

send in teams like this into a prison that is technically

controlled by the authorities. The inmates are all made to lie face

down and search for any sign they may still be using or dealing drugs.

The stench in these hot, overcrowded dormitories is overpowering. They

think this man is an important dealer. But where is the other

evidence they expected to find? Undercover officers have bought

drugs here several times in recent weeks. But it seems this time the

prisoners have been tipped off. In vain they press a Chinese prison

for more information. Many of the drug syndicates operating in the

Philippines are Chinese run. But all they can find is an assortment of

rusty improvised weapons. These police officers, more than 200 of

them, have been brought here from the other side of Manila. The local

forces couldn't be trusted. That's how deeply the narcotics business

has infiltrated this country. Do you think the campaign that is going on

now will succeed, that it will wipe out drugs? Again that is the

challenge and we will do our best to comply with the orders of the

president to get rid of drugs in three to six months. You do have

problems inside the police, there are some police officers involved in

the trade? There are, that's part of the process, inside cleansing, we

don't care if they are policeman, we have to get them, put them in jail

and if they fight then we have to defend ourselves. It doesn't matter,

if there are policemen involved, we have to get them.

In many ways what's happening today in the Philippines and chilly start

here at the monument to the first ever people power revolution 30

years ago when a popular uprising overthrew the dictator Ferdinand

Marcos and ushered in a boisterous and freewheeling democracy.

Filipinos have kept faith with that democracy, voting in huge numbers

every six years for a new president, yet everyone of those governments

has bailed to come even close to meeting the hopes that were raised

here, the old habits of corruption and abuses of power, lawlessness and

grinding poverty would be curbed. And so the voters have now gone for

something drastically different. They are elected outspoken mayor

Rodrigo Duterte by a landslide. He has presented himself as an

antiestablishment figure who can fix problems. He cares little for the

polite conventions of politics, giving unscripted speech is often

laced with obscenities. And what he calls the pandemic of

methamphetamine addiction is at the very top of his list of things to

do. We have seen a lot of ranting about human rights in my campaign

against drugs. Let me be frank with you this afternoon, the fight

against drugs will continue and will be unrelenting. If the resistance is

violent thereby placing your life in jeopardy you shoot and shoot them

dead. Can I be more clearer than that?

The bodies of those suspected of involvement in drugs started turning

up right after he took office. The police admit killing hundreds, or

resisting arrest, they say. But many more have died at the hands of

mysterious hit squads, the reasons for each death often unclear.

This is a security camera video from a neighbourhood in time though,

Manila, on the evening of the third of August. You can see local

resident Dannii men in those buying something from a food stall. His

young children playing around him. A motorbike then pulls up. The

passenger then fires a single shot into his neck and he drives off. His

wife is nearby and she rushes to help him, getting passers-by to lift

him into a motor tricycle. But he died before they could get him to

hospital. I went to talk to his wife,

Christie, who runs her own small shop, and to his neighbours. Was he

killed because of drugs? She told me he had been a user, but

he had stopped right after Duterte was elected. He was not a dealer,

she said. When we got talking to other family members, they said

Danny low had been involved in illegal gambling together with some

corrupt police officers. -- Anna Lo. He said he had had a disagreement

with one policeman in the street where he was killed. That they

believe was why he died. His assassin will probably never be

identified. The hit squads blamed for more than half the killings

remain in the shadows. But we did manage to meet one of them, a young

mother we called Maria. For obvious reasons her identity's been

concealed. Maria was brought into the contract killing business and

she says by her husband, but she'd only shot one man before President

Duterte's election victory. Since then she's killed another five. She

has no idea why they were targeted, but she says her boss is a police

officer who is involved in drugs. My husband was offered a job by a

big-time policeman while he was in jail. He immediately said yes. A lot

of people on this man money. He is also a big-time drug dealer. One

time, when they needed a woman for someone a man could not get close

to, my husband got me the job. I felt really scared and nervous

because it was my first time. I just kept thinking I am doing this for my

son. When I got near this person, who owed a lot to my boss, I went up

close and then shot him. Killed was after president Duterte got elected.

-- next time I killed. Since August I've killed five people. That's six

in all. Watch the U feel about the people that you kill, because they

have families too. Do you feel guilty? -- what do you feel. I do,

because I have kids too. A do it because we don't have money, I do it

for my children. I tell my husband that we can't keep doing this

forever. I would not want my children to open their eyes to what

we do. I don't want them to come back to us and say that they got to

live because we killed for money. Maria's statements suggest a lot of

the killing is done by people inside the drug trade, perhaps eliminating

rivals or those who might incriminate more powerful figures.

But the impact of the drug war is being felt largely in poor

communities, like this one near central Manila.

This man showed me around his district. He is the chairman and it

is his job to keep an eye out for trouble. This is a senior citizen,

my president. Very nice to meet you. I am Jonathan. Nice to meet you.

Crime is a big concern here and talking to the President it is clear

that president Duterte's way of dealing with it is popular. They

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

knows of 16 Crystal meth addict is living in his area. Most of them are

monthly petty cab drivers. He has had the difficult jobs of getting

them to register with the police just to keep them alive. They are

afraid because of the president. They are worried about their life,

their family, mothers, brothers. They are worried that once they are

caught, they know what will happen. They might be killed? Yeah, so they

are really afraid. A few of the former Addicks have joined the local

council as volunteers. But there are no rehabilitation facilities here or

anywhere else in Manila for them. Nor is there much sympathy from

their neighbours who applaud the President's Cup stand. This woman is

a widow who teaches in the local primary school. She told me that the

parents of six children in her class are drug addicts and she says it is

worse in other schools. The bottomline is drugs and the poor

people engage in drugs because in drugs they can make money, because

drugs now can be bought in very... Chip... Low price. I believe in

Duterte's vision of cleaning and killing the land and society. I

believe in him. So when I found out that he will run for president, I

supported him. But can his anti-drug campaign

succeed? More than 700,000 addicts have

already registered with the police. Here they are adding their names

before joining a morning exercise routine in front of one of Manila's

main churches. Trying to work the drug out of their system with some

fast footwork. Led by Manila's finest. The police hope this will

help to keep former Addicks away from the drug, but in truth it

exposes the lack of any alternative treatment for them. And you have to

wonder how long a police force, busy cleansing its own ranks, can keep up

this energetic community work. Excuse me, sir. The police are also

expected to make house calls to check on registered addicts. This is

one of the roughest of Manila's neighbourhoods. And the police major

is doing his rounds, checking whether one-time drug users are

slipping back into their old habits. This man is recognised as the

husband of a known crystal meth use. You had better stay off it, the

major warns him. They've already nabbed one couple with a

methamphetamine pipe. They are made to March, handcuffed, with the

police on a walk of shame through the community. This man was an

addict for a year. Now he must put up with having his home searched

every week. But at least this way he can be reasonably sure of staying

alive. How do you know if they are clean or not? If they are still

using or not? If we can hear some reports... You talk to their

neighbours? Yes. Back at the police station the

handcuffed couple are booked. Their two children look on tearfully. This

isn't the first time their parents have been caught, as they may now

have to move to one of the overcrowded jails. They are just

uses, small-time players. None of this really solves the country's

drug problem. Bigger dealers, like Roger, not his real name, have

instead chosen to go into hiding. He says much of his business was with

corrupt police officers and he is convinced they would kill him if

they surrendered. It is much better to run. My colleagues who

surrendered are now dead. If I surrender they kill me. So why

should I surrender? Don't you ever feel guilty about the job you do?

You're selling drugs that are very destructive to people.

Methamphetamine is a very destructive drug. I do believe I

have committed sings, it seems big-time. I have wronged a lot of

people. Some people have become addicted to drugs and because I am

one of the people who sells the drugs. What I can say is it depends

on the person. I can't say that everyone who takes drugs, commits

crimes, they steal or kill. Need? I am also an addict, they don't kill.

I am an addict, but I don't steal. Roger plans to stay hidden for a few

months and then get back to business. He doesn't believe

president Duterte can keep his campaign going for much longer.

Maria would like to get out of the killing business, but she says she

can't. Do you ever wished that you hadn't started this? That perhaps

you hadn't started killing, or do you feel you have no choice? From

now on I don't want to do it any more. I'll leave it to my husband.

But my boss says that if one of us tries to leave, we'll be killed.

Millions of Filipinos, though, still holds faith in their new president.

But, unlike his predecessors, he can check this country out of its bad

habits. Many believe the Philippines needs another strongman. But

transforming this disorderly island nation of 100 million people may yet

prove too much, even for a man who is as ruthless and determined as

Rodrigo Duterte.