Conscientious in Cebu, Bloodless in Bogo: Oplan Pokemon, Tight Cooperation Bring Desirable Results

IS IT possible to wage a bloodless war against illegal drugs? Cebu and Bogo City show the way.  A year into President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, the grim scene of dead bodies night after night has created a new norm in crime reporting: the killing of alleged suspects is an...

And Then There Were None? Questioning the Existence of EJKs

  “TO ALLAY or remove their fear, let it be known that under the present administration, there is only one case of extrajudicial killing or EJK for the period July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017,” PNP Spokesperson Dionardo Carlos told the media on October 6, downplaying the Social...

PNP’s Claim: No EJKs, Only Homicide

“PERSISTENT AND irritating” was how Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald Dela Rosa described the supposed misuse of police data by the media and Vice President Leni Robredo in claiming that the government’s war on drugs have resulted into more than 7,000 deaths. The continued coverage on the...

Capturing the Contradiction

  CHEERS TO some media organizations for their reports that noted the contradictory statements of  President Rodrigo Duterte in a speech on December 7 during the Urban Poor Solidarity Week celebration. The president said he would not interfere with legal proceedings against the policemen involved in the killing of...

‘Unheard Voices’: Humanizing the War on Drugs

  CHEERS TO ABS-CBN News for running a series of reports on the casualties of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. First published on Oct. 27, “War On Drugs: The Unheard Voices” is a six-part series by the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group that  focused on the stories of 50...

Free from Fact: Reuters Checks Duterte’s Figures on Drugs

  WHEN President Rodrigo Duterte launched his “war on drugs,” local and international media chronicled the events that were unfolding with daily reports. In July, CMFR noted the superficial reporting by local media  (“Anti-Drug Campaign: Swallowing Everything the Police Says”) but succeeding months saw improvements in the coverage of...

INFOGRAPHIC: Reuters Checks Duterte’s Figures on Drugs

Making Sense of the Surveys: Keep Suspects Alive

  THE NUMBERS are out. The Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey for the third quarter of 2016 revealed that the majority, or 84 percent, of 1,200 respondents were satisfied with the government’s anti-illegal drug campaign. Eight percent were dissatisfied, with the remaining eight percent undecided. The Duterte administration has...

The Drug War from the Perspective of Those Covering It

  CHEERS TO the Philippine Daily Inquirer for its three pieces on the administration’s drug war.  Written from the perspective of the media people covering it, the folio of articles also provided a breakdown of data gathered about the deaths that campaign has so far amassed. On Oct. 15,...

‘Most Shabulized’: Fact-Checking Duterte’s Claim

  CHEERS TO VERA Files for fact-checking the claim by President Rodrigo Duterte that Iloilo is the “most shabulized” or most drug-affected province in the Philippines by citing data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). In “IS THAT SO? Is Iloilo the ‘most shabulized’ area in PH?,” (Aug....