Between Duterte and a death squad, a Philippine mayor fights against drug-war violence
MANILA: In the past eight months, a death squad known as the Bonnet Gang has gunned down more than 60 drug suspects in the Philippine town of Pateros.
Mayor Ike Ponce has had enough. He has put up banners across Pateros, in the southeast of Metro Manila, to denounce the gang, which is named for the hoods its motorbike-riding gunmen wear to hide their identities.
Extrajudicial killings are “not the right process to stop the proliferation of illegal drugs,” read the banners.
Ponce knows his actions could anger not just the Bonnet Gang but also someone far more powerful: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
More than 8,000 people, mostly petty drug users and dealers, have been killed in the ‘war on drugs’ pursued by Duterte since he took office on June 30.
Ponce is the only one of Metro Manila’s 17 mayors to publicly oppose the violence.
In many cases, local politicians have worked with the police to draw up lists of drug users and dealers, who then often end up dead at the hands of police or vigilantes.
He is, though, a symbol of increasing resistance from parts of society, including the country’s influential Catholic Church, which has called the campaign a ‘reign of terror.’
Duterte has put local politicians and officials under unprecedented scrutiny and pressure.
Police have accused those who lack enthusiasm for the campaign, or object to its violent methods, of protecting or profiting from drug traffickers.
Duterte has publicly brandished a thick list of what he says are thousands of ‘narco-politicians’ and warned mayors involved in the drug trade to resign or die.