Rodrigo Duterte has conducted a campaign against drugs after taking office in June. New York Times photographer, Daniel Berehulak traveled to the Philippines to document the effects of the brutal campaign. In his feature for the NY Times, Daniel photographed 57 murder victims which were found at 41 different locations. He notes:
“I witnessed bloody scenes just about everywhere imaginable — on the sidewalk, on train tracks, in front of a girls’ school, outside 7-Eleven stores and a McDonald’s restaurant, across bedroom mattresses and living-room sofas. I watched as a woman in red peeked at one of those grisly sites through fingers held over her eyes, at once trying to protect herself and permit herself one last glance at a man killed in the middle of a busy road”
The photographs taken depict the violence, and while graphic, show a side of the anti-drug campaign which has lacked in media coverage. It was stunning to read the perspective Daniel was exposed to. He states:
I have worked in 6o countries, covered wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and spent much of 2014 living inside West Africa’s Ebola zone, a place gripped by fear and death. What I experienced in the Philippines felt like a new level of ruthlessness: police officers’ summarily shooting anyone suspected of dealing or even using drugs, vigilantes’ taking seriously Mr. Duterte’s call to “slaughter them all.”
The feature is hard to summarize, the pictures must be looked through.
More disturbing, President-elect Trump has expressed his praise for the brutal campaign.
Agora: Watching the World Turn 