Cover image via TIME Magazine / Getty Images
"We will not stop until the last drug lord and the last pusher have surrendered or are put either behind bars or
below the ground, if they so wish."
below the ground, if they so wish."
The unprecedented [extrajudicial drug killings] (http://says.com/ph/news/digong-to-obama-i-am-no-american-puppet) started on 25 July when President Rodrigo Duterte stated his inundated plan to destroy drug trafficking and the profiteering drug lords in the country during his State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Image via YouTube
Hours after the SONA, Restituto Castro received a text message from an anonymous sender around 11p.m. telling him to go to MacArthur Highway
"**A single bullet to the back of his head that night made Castro one of the first of the 3,000-plus Filipinos killed so far in Duterte's brutal war on drugs**," according to [TIME] (http://time.com/4495896/philippine-president-rodrigo-duterte/).
**Two weeks after the SONA, Richard Branson called out President Duterte:**
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On 1 July, the day after President Duterte's inauguration, he instructed police officers to "go ahead and kill" the drug addicts and do their duty
"These sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, don't go into that, even if you're a policeman, because I will really kill you. If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful," said Duterte, according to [The Guardian] (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/01/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-urges-people-to-kill-drug-addicts).
Image via CNN
President Duterte once vowed to kill his own children if he caught them using drugs. He has also admitted that there will be dark days in his term and that the ride will be rough, but "come join me just the same," he added.
"The problems that bedevil our country today which need to be addressed with urgency are **corruption, both in the high and low echelons in government, criminality in the streets and the rampant sale of illegal drugs** in all strata of Philippine society and the breakdown of law and order," added President Duterte during his inauguration speech.
Image via CNN
Two months since President Duterte took office, the Philippine National Police ([PNP] (http://www.pnp.gov.ph/)) released a data showing 1,506 people killed during police operations, while the rest were most likely vigilantes' killings
From July 1 to September 14, the PNP said 1,506 drug suspects were killed, 16,891 were arrested, and 712,730 have voluntarily submitted themselves to the authorities. This number brings the PNP to 40 percent of its target, which is to summon 1.8 million people involved in illegal drug in the first six months of the Duterte administration, according to a report by [Sun Star] (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2016/09/14/pnp-stats-1500-killed-16000-arrested-govt-anti-drug-drive-497620).
"**We shouldn't jump the gun and say that they're automatically extrajudicial killings, such that extrajudicial means it has the badge of the government**," says Kris Ablan, assistant secretary at the Presidential Communications Office.
Image via Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images
The political violence was rampant that TIME Magazine Asia featured President Duterte again, for the second time this year
The first time he was featured was in May when he was still the presumptive president of the country. The cover story was entitled, "**The Punisher**," or why Duterte is the Philippines' new leader penned by Charlie Campbell.
The second time he was featured was just two days ago entitled, "**Inside Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's War On Drugs**," or the tragic cost of President Duterte's war on drugs. It was penned by Rishi Iyengar for the magazine's 26 September issue.
"**Just because you are poor, you are excused from apprehension…? Rich or poor, I do not give a shit. My order is to destroy**," emphasized President Duterte in a press conference held at the wake of Senior Inspector Mark Garcia who died during a buy bust operation in August.
Image via TIME
