I want to be proven wrong on the Duterte Killings

I really would want to be proven wrong about the killings inspired by Rodrigo Duterte. That may come as a surprise to his supporters who’ve read my criticisms of Duterte.

But it’s true.

I would want it to be untrue that thousands have been killed in a brutal campaign purportedly to end drug use in the country. I would want it to be untrue that the so-called antidrug campaign has created a terrifying culture of violence and impunity.

I want to be made to realize that the Duterte Killings did not happen, are not happening. And if ever that day comes, I would not think twice about writing a column admitting I was wrong, declaring that it is absolute not true that thousands of people, most of the poor Filipinos, have not been slaughtered.

Ateneo School of Government of Ateneo De Manila, UP Diliman, De La Salle, and Columbia University’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism — unveiled The Drug Archive, the first data-driven examination of the Philippine antidrug campaign. WEBSITE

Here’s why I want to be proven wrong about Duterte and the killings he inspired. I’m from a generation of Filipinos who grew up under dictatorship. Many of us take pride in our role 30 years ago in helping end that reign of tyranny and abuse.

As the death toll continued to rise in the Duterte Killings, amid his curses and crass statements about killing and human rights, many of us found ourselves asking: How in the world can this be happening again?

So many of us want all the reports and stories of mass killings to be false. We want to be able to say, “We ended fascist rule three decades ago. No way will it make a comeback in the Philippines!”

Yes, I want to be proven wrong about Duterte and the violence he unleashed.

But it’s not going to happen. Excellent journalism and data-driven research simply make it hard for that to happen.

This was underscored this week when three respected institutions — the Ateneo School of Government of Ateneo De Manila, UP Diliman, De La Salle, and Columbia University’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism — unveiled The Drug Archive, the first data-driven examination of the Philippine antidrug campaign.

The project is being led by veteran journalist Sheila Coronel, winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award and now academic dean of the Columbia Journalism School, and UP Professor Clarissa David.

The initial report drills down on publicly available data on the killings, mostly official reports and documents and news accounts. The Drug Archive has verified the deaths of about 5,000 Filipinos, many of whom unidentified.

It is important to note here that the PNP itself has acknowledged that more than 4,000 people have been killed in official police operations, and more than 22,000 potentially drug-related deaths are under investigation.

Who are the victims? The Drug Archive says they were mostly tricycle drivers, construction workers, vendors, farmers, jeepney barkers, garbage collectors or were unemployed.

Who did the killing? More than half were killed by police during police operations. More than a third were killed by mostly unknown, often masked or hooded, assailants

The Drug Archive is a work in progress. It does not provide all the answers, but it could become an incredibly important resource in a time of massive  misinformation.

More than anything, the Drug Archive promises to usher in a new era of cooperation between the academic community and journalists, with a heavy emphasis on the data and evidence, and what they are uncovering about a controversial campaign.

Journalism, of course, has already been playing a critically important role in exposing the killings.

In fact, if the Duterte Killings do turn out to be false, then a major scandal is poised to rock the journalism world. For two consecutive years, the Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious journalism prize in the US, went to two reporting achievements focused on the Duterte Killings.

In 2016, Year 1 of the Duterte Killings, The  New York Times wins Pulitzer for Breaking News Photography for “They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals.”

In 2017, Year 2 of the Duterte Slaughter, Reuters (including Filipino journalist Manny Mogato) wins Pulitzer for International Reporting for “Duterte’s War: Inside the Bloody Crackdown in the Philippines”

Even the National Geographic, which has been known mainly for long features on nature and scientific discoveries, could not help but produce its own documentary and report on the Duterte Killings titled “In Philippine Drug War: Death Rituals Substitute for Justice”by the young journalist Aurora Almendral.

Yes, I really would want to be proven wrong about the Duterte Killings.

The data and excellent journalism keep getting in the way.

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