The Whole 9 Yards

On page seven of the memoir Some People Need Killing, author Patricia Evangelista narrates the death of a couple during Duterte’s war on drugs. It is told from the view of Love love, their 11-year old daughter. The gunmen barged into their home in the middle of the night. Shot the dad, then shot the mom who cursed at them after killing her husband. The gunmen, who are assumed to be police, killed her parents right in front of her.

Devastatingly, this is only one of thousands of deaths that happened in the Philippines during Duterte’s administration. He became president in 2016. The infamous President of the Philippines who promised the death of drug dealers. Making the masses believe that the death of all drug dealers meant the death of all crime and corruption.

I was a freshman in college when Duterte sat down as president. The beginning of his deadly War on Drugs. I wrote dozens of essays about extrajudicial killings back then, yet, it is my first time learning about Love-love or her parents. The only case that made headlines was that of Kian Delos Santos, who was shot dead by the police. He begged not be killed because he had a test the following day, but they still did.

How did they get away with it? Easy, the police say the victims resisted and fought back. It was self defense. It was self defense for Kian Delos Santos. It was self defense for Love love’s parents. It was self defense for the thousands more killed.

Sometimes the killers would place a piece of paper on the corpses that read “Drug pusher ako” or slip pouches of drugs in their lifeless hands. Crazy.

Even crazier – they call themselves vigilantes. Sure, whatever helps them sleep at night.