Rappler wins award for drug war series

RAPPLER RECEIVED the 2019 Global Shining Light Award for its investigative series on President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war on September 28 at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Hamburg, Germany.

The seven-part Murder in Manila series, published in October 2018, focused on the local chapter of a vigilante gang in Tondo, Manila, whose members had been arrested for killing drug suspects and small-time criminals, including a 16-year-old boy.

CMFR also cheered Rappler for the series, noting that while much of the media has reduced the Duterte “drug war” narrative to mere crime reports, Rappler found “strong indications” that local PNP officials were using alleged vigilante group Confederate Sentinel Group (CSG)-Tondo Chapter 2 to kill for them. 

The story was written and investigated by 2019 Marshall McLuhan Fellow Patricia Evangelista, photographed by Magnum fellow Carlo Gabuco, with reports by justice reporter Lian Buan and police reporter Rambo Talabong. The investigative team, Newsbreak, is headed by editor and Rappler co-founder Chay Hofileña.

The Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)’s Global Shining Light Awards honors “investigative journalism conducted in developing or transitioning countries, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions.”

More than 290 entries for 2019 were received by the GIJN, an international association of journalism organizations that support the training and sharing of information among investigative and data journalists—even in repressive regimes and marginalized communities.