Ezra Acayan 2018 Award for Achievement

Duterte’s War On Drugs Is Not Over

More than 20,000 dead. This estimated death toll is the result of the two-year war on drugs in the Philippines. In 2016, Rodrigo Duterte became president of the south-east Asian republic. His campaign promise to fight drugs with any means won him the election: he threatened those connected to drug consumption and sales with the death penalty, urged members of the public to kill suspected criminals and drug addicts, and allowed the police to act with brutality. Drug dealers and users have been murdered and a state of emergency was declared. The United Nations appealed in vain to the Philippine government to investigate extrajudicial killings and to prosecute the perpetrators, while the International Criminal Court has announced preliminary examinations into killings linked to Duterte’s war on drugs. But the war continues. This photo reportage hopes to illuminate both the violent acts carried out in the Philippines as well as the questionable methods of Duterte and the police.