Two months as president and nearly 2000 dead
PHILIPPINES - It’s monsoon season in the Philippines and in a ramshackle neighborhood in Quezon City, near Manila, a sudden downpour has left gray puddles in the rutted streets and fat, dirty drops of rainwater steadily dripping from corrugated metal roofs.
It’s getting late as Leny Glivano, the neighborhood captain, a small woman with a zeal in her eye, coordinates with police Senior Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar. Together they go through a master list of suspected drug users in her barangay -- a Filipino word for neighborhood -- as they have done nightly for six weeks. Soon, they are ducking down dark, narrow, trashstrewn alleyways into the heart of the Barangay Libis slum, accompanied by a slew of uniformed officers and as many as 10 helmeted, assault rifle-toting SWAT officers. They’re on a “tokhang,” or “knock and plead” operation -- a tactic adopted from new President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown of Davao City, where he was mayor for more than two decades. The United Nations last week condemned Duterte’s violent crackdown on drugs since he assumed office in late June, urging the Philippines government “to protect all persons from targeted killings and extrajudicial executions.” “Knock and plead” involves going to the homes of those suspected of using shabu -- the local name for methamphetamine -- and, with practiced, almost comically overwrought politeness, inviting those inside to accompany the police to the barangay hall. “You’re on our list,” Eleazar says to one, who seems disoriented by the visible show of force at his front door. It’s been a long time, the dazed occupant says. He’s wearing shorts and holds a thin, grubby tank top as he blinks in the light. “We’d like to invite you to the barangay for some clarifications,” Eleazar says. The man meekly complies. The armed entourage moves on to the next address on the list.
(CNN.COM)