Category: Civil Society

PNP stats: 135 killed, 1,844 arrested in 2 weeks of Duterte war on drugs

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By the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

PCIJ. Killed, July 1-13, 2016

BY OFFICIAL POLICE DATA, from July 1 to 13 this year, the Duterte administration’s war on crime has already chalked up big, if macabre, numbers: 135 persons killed or about 10 persons a day on average, and 1,844 arrested or about 141 persons a day on average.

In two weeks’ time, the campaign has also nudged the “surrender” of 60,393 alleged drug users and 5,914 alleged drug pushers, apart from 43,026 houses “visited” by local and village officials to target and flush out suspects, according to official police reports obtained by the PCIJ.

But the PNP data show a curious ratio: Only one “drug pusher” for every 10 “drug users” have been located or compelled to surrender to the authorities in the last fortnight.

In contrast to the big numbers of those killed, arrested, or have “surrendered,” the police also reported only pithy volumes and values of illegal drugs seized in the operation — sachets and kilos of shabu, a sprinkling of marijuana, and just one tablet of the designer drug “Ecstasy.”

The total amount of the seizure is listed at “146,345 by estimated DDB value,” which presumably translates to P146.3 million. The PNP report, however, does not show a peso sign; neither does it state if the amount is in the thousands of pesos or some other currency.

PCIJ asked the PNP to clarify the matter but the officers contacted could not give any explanation as of posting time.

Shabu, by the latest published estimates of the DDB, could fetch at least a million pesos a kilo.

Interviewed by the PCIJ and GMANewsTV’s Investigative Documentaries staff, PNP’s chief, Director General Ronald ‘Bato’ M. dela Rosa, said ‘Oplan Double Barrel’ is the Duterte administration’s blueprint for its war on drugs.

PCIJ asked for a copy of whatever PNP document has been issued clarifying the goals, scope, guidelines, and protocols for the implementation of the anti-drug war but did not get any from dela Rosa.

Instead, the PNP head said that President Rodrigo R. Duterte would issue shortly an executive order creating an inter-agency committee that will take charge of the police, legal, social, health, and other myriad aspects of the war on drugs.

Dela Rosa added that the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service has also started to investigate complaints of alleged abuses by the police and other officials in specific operations that had led to the death of some alleged drug users and pushers.

For now, dela Rosa said ‘Oplan Double Barrel’ is “the big picture” in the anti-drug war. It supposedly involves unleashing “the upper barrel” – ‘Oplan HVT’ — to snare “high-value” and supply-side targets; and “the lower barrel” or ‘Oplan Tokhang,’ to flush out “low-value” and demand-side targets.

‘Tokhang’ is a combination of Visayan words “toktok” or to knock, and “hangyo” or to plead or request. ‘Tokhang’ was first launched in Davao City in 2012 under then Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte.

Local government units have adopted the campaign, but some have infused it with their own branding. The Quezon City government calls its campaign ‘Oplan Kapak,’ or short for “katok” and “pakiusap.” In Tanuan, Batangas, the mayor has required alleged drug users and pushers to take their “walk of shame” across the city, with posters declaring “Drug Addict Ako: Huwag Pamarisan (I am a Drug Addict. Don’t Follow my Example)” either hanging from their necks or taped to their clothes.

‘Accomplishments’

As of July 13, 2016, reports of the National Operations Center (NOC) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) showed these “accomplishments” of the new administration’s two-week-old war on drugs.

• 135 suspects killed, including two PNP members;
• 1,843 arrested, including 1,836 civilians, 6 foreign nationals, and 1 “government/elected official”; and
• 4,016 “surrendered”, including 4,011 civilians, 3 “government/elected officials”, 1 policeman, and 1 security guard.

Of the country’s 18 regions, no killings have been reported as of July 13 in only seven regions: the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Western Visayas, Cagayan Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula, Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Negros Island Region.

In the 11 other regions, however, the PNP reports showed that the bodies of alleged drug pushers have shown up in alarming numbers, notably:

• 55 killed in Central Luzon;
• 44 in Metro Manila;
• 17 in Calabarzon;
• 6 in Ilocos Region;
• 5 in Soccsksargen;
• 3 in the Bicol Region;
• 2 in Central Visayas;
• 1 in the Cordillera Administrative Region;
• 1 in the Caraga Region; and
• 1 in the Davao Region.

‘Hostile’ and ‘killed’

Media reports have quoted police authorities as saying that the drug suspects ended up dead because they resisted arrest or fought back – “nanlaban.” Two PNP reports on Oplan Tokhang in fact show a match between the figure of those killed and that of drug pushers who were “hostile” or had denied they were involved in the illegal trade.

Interestingly, the NOC report on its “Monitoring on Project Tokhang,” show “hostile” drug pushers in only four areas: Metro Manila, Ilocos Region, Mimaropa, and Cordillera.

But according to another NOC report, “Monitoring on the Anti-Illegal Drugs Accomplishment,” which covers Oplan Tokhang during the same period, the fatalities are spread across 10 areas – which even excludes Mimaropa, which had the highest number of “hostile” drug suspects (124).

Metro Manila, which had only seven drug suspects listed as “hostile” in one report ended up with 44 fatalities under Oplan Tokhang in the other document. Central Luzon and Calabarzon also had no “hostile” drug suspects listed in the “Monitoring on Project Tokhang” report, yet according to the other NOC tally, they had the second and third highest number of dead respectively under the same police operation.

Alleged drug pushers

In any case, the PNP says that Project Tokhang has snared 5,914 “drug pushers” from July 1 to 13, including:

• 5,693 listed under the category of “voluntary surrender”;
• 86 under the category of “surrender of drugs”; and
• 135 under the category of “hostile/denial.”

In the meantime, a “surrenderees” tally of 4,016 is enrolled in “Monitoring on the Anti-Illegal Drugs Accomplishment.”

But the supplementary “Monitoring on Project Tokhang,” which draws the participation of local government units and barangay councils, showed much bigger numbers of “surrenderees.”

In this second report, the NOC said that from July 1 to 13, 2016, a total of 60,393 “drug users” have been located in the 18 regions of the country, but only 5,914 “drug pushers.”

The numbers indicate that only one “drug pusher” for every 10 “drug users” have been covered by Project Tokhang in the first two weeks of the government’s war on drugs.

In addition, the report said that as of last July 13, a total of 43,026 houses have been “visited” as part of Project Tokhang.

Alleged drug users

The 60,393 “drug users” who have been located or identified across the country in the last two weeks, included:

• 2,903 in areas covered by the National Capital Region Police Command (Metro Manila);
• 1,348, Police Regional Office 1 (Ilocos Region);
• 416, PRO 2 (Cagayan Valley);
• 6,650, PRO 3 (Central Luzon);
• 1,075 PRO 4A (Calabarzon);
• 391, PRO 4B (Mimaropa);
• 1,553, PRO 5 (Bicol Region);
• 307, PRO 6 (Western Visayas);
• 4,472, PRO 7 (Central Visayas);
• 962, PRO 8 (Eastern Visayas);
• 5,869, PRO 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula);
• 20,061, PRO 10 (Northern Mindanao);
• 4,801, PRO11 (Davao Region);
• 338, PRO 12 (Soccsksargen);
• 5,700, PRO 13 (Caraga);
• 921, PRO-Cordillera (Cordillera Administrative Region);
• 153, PRO-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; and
• 2,473, PRO 18 (Negros Island Region).

Houses ‘visited’

The 43,026 “houses visited” under Project Tokhang consisted of big numbers for certain areas:

• 7,663 houses in Zamboanga Peninsula;
• 5,939 in Northern Mindanao;
• 4,672 in Central Luzon;
• 4,233 in Metro Manila;
• 4,077 in Caraga;
• 2,971 in Central Visayas;
• 2,249 in Calabarzon; and
• 2,227 in Eastern Visayas.

In contrast, fewer houses have been “visited” in these regions from July 1 to 13, 2016:

• 1,712 houses in Bicol Region;
• 1,704 in Ilocos Region;
• 1,530 in Davao Region;
• 1,239 in the Cordillera Administrative Region;
• 668 in Mimaropa; 541 in Negros Island Region;
• 474 in Western Visayas;
• 442 in Cagayan Valley;
• 416 in Soccsksargen; and
• 269 in ARMM.

Drugs seized

Finally, as part of the “results of operation” of its war on drugs, the various PNP regional offices reported the seizure or surrender of relatively small volumes of illegal drugs during the same period. These included:

• 2,906 sachets of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride;
• 230 kilos of shabu;
• 1,094 grams of shabu;
• 26 packs of shabu;
• 57 sachets of marijuana;
• 42 marijuana leaves;
• 33 marijuana rolls;
• 10 marijuana plants; and
• 1 Ecstasy tablet.

The PNP report put the “estimated DDB value” of this cache of seized illegal drugs at only “146.345.

All the PNP regional offices reported that they had seized sachets of shabu, which is also known as the accessible drug of choice of the less affluent.

Yet the 230 kilos of shabu listed in the report were apparently confiscated from only two operations conducted in Metro Manila (50 kilos) and in Cagayan Valley (180 kilos).

The seizure of the single tablet of Ecstasy — “the drug of choice of the rich” — was credited to the PNP regional office in Calabarzon. — PCIJ, July 14, 2016

PNP data on drug war: 192 killed, in nine weeks after election day

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By the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

THE WAR on drugs in the last nine weeks — or even before Rodrigo R. Duterte took his oath as president a fortnight ago on June 30 — has yielded ever bigger numbers of casualties, arrests, and “surrenderees,” and a volume of cases filed in court.

This is according to the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) that has been monitoring the conduct of anti-drug operations from May 10, 2016 — or the day after the last elections.

A copy of DIDM’s report to PNP Director-General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa that PCIJ obtained showed that from May 10 to July 10, 2016, police operations against illegal drugs have yielded the following results:

• 192 persons killed;

• 8,110 persons arrested;

• 3,001 cases “referred”; and

• 3,477 cases “filed in court.”

The report also said that from May 10 to July 11, a total of 35,276 persons have “surrendered” to the authorities.

The DIDM report is a separate dataset from that produced by the PNP National Operations Center (NOC) on its “Monitoring of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Accomplishment” that covers the period from July 1 to July 13, 2016.

Getting the numbers right in the PNP’s war on drugs is hampered in large measure by the fractious but parallel agencies assigned to operations and case monitoring.

In this instance, the DIDM and the NOC reports seem to be focused on the same monitoring pegs — numbers of people killed, arrested, surrendered, etc. — but across different time frames.

But if their numbers are correct and identical, except for the covered periods in their respective reports, a comparison of their data would yield clustered numbers for the period before the birth of the Duterte administration, and in the two weeks since it assumed power.

Thus, from May 10 to June 30 — the day Duterte took his oath as President — and again from July 1 to 13, 2016, the war on drugs, according to the PNP’s DIDM and NOC, yields these clustered numbers:


• 57 killed from May 10 to June 30; 135 killed from July 1 to 13, 2016.

• 6,266 arrested from May 10 to June 30; 1,844 arrested from July 1 to 13, 2016.

• 31,260 “surrendered” to the PNP from May 10 to June 30; 4,016 “surrendered” to the PNP from July 1 to 13,2016.

Note that in addition to the number of suspects who reportedly surrendered to the police, the PNP NOC, in a separate report, said that more than 60,000 “drug users” and about 6,000 “drug pushers” had been located or had “surrendered” to local and barangay officials under ‘Oplan Tokhang,’ the anti-drug war operations on the village level.

What the PNP’s NOC reports do not reveal, though, are the numbers of cases “referred” and “filed in court” that the DIDM report shows.

What the DIDM report does not offer, and which the PNP’s NOC reports enroll are the number of “houses visited” under ‘Oplan Tokhang.’ –– PCIJ, July 14, 2016

President Duterte’s war on crime: A nuclear explosion of violence

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By Atty. Jose Manuel ‘Chel’ I. Diokno
National Chairman, Free Legal Assistance Group
Trustee, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
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PRESIDENT DUTERTE’S war on crime has spawned a nuclear explosion of violence that is spiraling out of control and creating a nation without judges, without law, and without reason.

Do we really want to give the man with the gun the power to judge who are criminals and to kill them?

To decide who is bad and who is good, who deserves to live and who deserves to die? We might as well disband our courts, dissolve the Department of Justice, and abolish Congress. For there really is no need for law when the barrel of the gun dispenses justice.

The bandwagon that the President has created is a bandwagon of hate – a mob mentality that not only condones but encourages the taking of lives “because they deserve it.”

Yes, drug pushers destroy lives. Yes, criminals behave like animals. But are those who kill them any better? And will the killing stop there?

Our people have seen what a mob can do in the hands of a tyrant who knows no law but his own. Lest we forget, the first person that Marcos executed was a drug pusher. But did he stop there? By the time he was ousted, he was responsible for killing thousands upon thousands of people whose only fault was their belief in justice, the rule of law, and human rights.

President Duterte, do not kill in my name. That is not your mandate, that is not what you were elected for. Yes, go after the drug cartels and criminal syndicates, the corrupt, the criminals among us. But do it as an officer of the law you have sworn to uphold as a lawyer and a President. — July 8, 2016

Duterte Revisited: What he said in 2001 about drugs, vigilantes

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By Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews

Duterte Revisited

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 29 June) — Days before President-elect Rodrigo Roa Duterte declared a boycott of the media on June 2, 2016, MindaNews had asked the first Mindanawon to govern this country of 100.98 million, for a sit-down interview, as it had asked him in the past, on major issues confronting this city of 1.63 million.

Arrangements were made with Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Duterte’s Executive Assistant, for “A Day with the President-elect” where the interview would be done after lunch (which is usually when his day begins) and the MindaNews team would follow him in his next schedules until his day would end at dawn.

June 2, however, turned out to be his last press conference. Immediately thereafter, journalists (national, international, and yes, local) were barred from entering the compound of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Panacan, where the Presidential Guesthouse (dubbed under the Arroyo administration as “Malacañang of the South” and now popularly referred to as “Panacañang”) is located.

When he will lift his boycott, no one can say for now. He has repeatedly said in speeches after June 2 that he would not talk to media until the end of his six-year term.

In lieu of what would have been a Q and A that MindaNews would have published in the run-up to his oath-taking as President, we are re-publishing this Q and A done in November 2001, shortly after Duterte announced in his Sunday TV program, “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” (From the Masses, For the Masses), the names of 500 persons who he said could help the city in its fight against drugs. At the time of the interview, at least four of those on the list had been killed or ended up dead. Another 17 suspected drug pushers and celfone snatchers, four of them minors, were eventually slain soon after.

Between 2001 and 2016, Duterte had been investigated several times by the Commission on Human Rights, including a 2009 probe by then CHR chair and now Senator Leila de Lima, and other international human rights groups. But no charges have been filed against him.

Fifteen years had lapsed since MindaNews ran this interview with Duterte, who prefers to be called “Mayor of the Philippines” instead of “President.”

In his own words, here is Mayor-President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, interviewed in 2001 but speaking like he does today.
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Duterte Revisited: What he said in 2001
By Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews
First of Three Parts
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28 November 2001: “Pinaka-unfair sa lahat ng krimen ang drugs”
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MANY in Davao City were “shocked,” to say the least, to see their controversial mayor on national television late Tuesday night last week, talking tough (his expletives unedited), toting a gun and kicking the corpse of a suspected drug pusher reportedly killed by the vigilante group, “Davao Death Squad” (DDS).

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, 56, knew he’d be featured on “The Probe Team” but didn’t watch it, claiming he doesn’t want to watch himself on TV or listen to the radio.

Duterte has repeatedly said he doesn’t give a damn what his critics say about him. But among millions of viewers that Tuesday night, the only person whose feedback he cared about was Sara, his only daughter who is studying Law in Manila.

“She said it was bad enough that the expletives I uttered were not edited… She said ‘you were portrayed somehow as being linked to the DDS by the way you framed your answers,'” Duterte said.

“I was quick to point out to my daughter that if it’s a matter of government abetting the killings or having sponsored the slayings or encouraged or had taken initiatives, it’s absolutely false because the mayorship or I had nothing to do with it. Pero sinasakyan ko… because to be really truthful and honest about it, I would rather see criminals dead than innocent victims die, being killed senselessly.”

He then cited several cases of killings by people, including minors, under the influence of drugs.

Last month, Duterte announced in his Sunday TV show the names of 500 people whom he said could help the city in its fight against drugs. At least four of those on the list had been killed or ended up dead.

At least 17 suspected drug pushers and celfone snatchers, four of them minors, were killed by suspected vigilantes last month. Since 1995, at least 150 persons have been reported to have been felled by the vigilantes.

That his name is being linked with the DDS does not seem to bother Duterte.

A government prosecutor (from 1977 to 1986), Duterte was named OIC Vice Mayor of Davao City in 1986, was mayor from 1988 to 1998, moved on to become congressman of the first district and reclaimed the mayoralty this year.

The day after “The Probe Team” featured the vigilante killings, Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla wrote a pastoral letter, “Thou shall not kill,” made public last Sunday through the masses in all parishes. The letter finally broke the “long silence” of the Church on the vigilante killings in the city.

But who are the vigilantes? Is Duterte behind them? Is he their godfather?

Duterte sat down with MindaNews’ Carolyn O. Arguillas one evening last week to answer these and more.

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Excerpts from the interview follow:

Q. Why did you make that list public?
A. I was appealing to the patriotism, the civic spirit I might rekindle in the minds, hearts of these people. (Also) to put them on guard (that) we know something about you (so) you stop it. Second, the community must know. For example, neighbor mo..

Q. But it’s being viewed as witchhunting. A number of those on the list…
A. No it’s not withchunting. There was a process that we followed. Of the five families who were outraged by my announcement and who came to me really angry, after I showed them the proof…. yung isa gusto pa nya suntukin sa harap ko yung anak nya… Besides, I laid the predicate in my announcement. I said I’d like to mention the names of persons here in the city… who can be of help to us if they would just be patriotic enough to help government and try to save the generations from being devastated by drugs.

Q. But the list, it is said, spared the rich, that most of those on the list are poor, a number of them minors…
A. It’s not a matter of minor or a person of age. That’s what I was trying to explain to ‘The Probe Team.’ Because..that guy who shot and killed that girl (whose celfone was snatched inside a taxi), he was only 17. When the mind is devastated by drugs, the age doesn’t really make a difference, whether you are 17, 50 or 70. When you go crazy, you go crazy. (Age) does not count anymore. Most of these are aged 18, 19, either sinasaksak nila yung mga estudyante dyan … or binabaril….

Q. I think one of the reasons why you are being linked to the DDS is because the killings stopped during the term of (then Mayor Benjamin) de Guzman and returned when you came back.
A. Hindi baya. Remember that de Guzman filed a case against this priest because he declared to the world that de Guzman is the head of a death squad that at that time killed two snatchers? I hope that they would temper their conclusions about me. Pero kung sabihin mo na naawa ako (sa victims), sinabi ko naman eh, do not ask for a tear. I never shed tears for mga ganong klaseng tao.

Q. Is that the solution? Finishing them off?
A. No it’s not. Killing can never be the solution to what ails this country.

Q. What’s the solution?
A. ..we have to try to mature as a nation and add more policemen. For example, for the city of Davao, so I can patrol and build a case against them individually, I would need about 5,000 policemen which we cannot have, and improve police methods, yung mga night vision and maybe listening devices which unfortunately we cannot afford for the next 10 years or so.

Duterte on Killings

Q. There was a dialogue between teenage gang members and some legislators. The teeners said some of them got hooked to drugs because of policemen pushing drugs, that they became indebted to the policemen so they became user-pusher.
A. I do not know of any policeman direkta na ganon. But if (there) is, then he’s a dead policeman…

Q. A UN agency on drug control has said the city government should..
A. I don’t give a sh_t what they say. I don’t have a treaty with them.

Q. You’re not bothered about people refering to you as the godfather of DDS?
A. No. Because it’s not true. So if the truth will set you free, I am free because there is no such thing as a government-sponsored killing in the city.

Q. Who are the vigilantes?
A. I really do not know. A guy who went public in a newspaper interview said he’s a former rebel and he claims it is composed of former rebels and policemen. I even suffered a rebuke (that the) mayor is putting up a time limit that is not realistic. So may timetable pala sila… their own timetable.

Q. If you’re saying it’s not you, then who’s behind these vigilantes?
A. Yung mga tatay na hindi tumatanggap ng ganon. Maybe they were just waiting for somebody na kakampi nila dyan who also nurtures this kind of outrage sa drugs…

Q. Rich?
A. Maybe. You cannot move if you do not have the money. In all probability, these are people who have the means to pay (the vigilantes) at kung totoo yung sinasabi ng lumabas sa newspaper, maybe yung may tinamaan talaga (yung mga anak)… Ako personally, personally ha — not as mayor because may oath of office ka pagka mayor ka, you protect the Constitution, follow the Constitution, protect everyone’s rights — but if I were an ordinary citizen of this city tapos tinamaan ang anak ko, maybe ganon din ang gagawin ko. Talagang hihirit ako, put–nang yan hihiritan ko yan. I mean it’s not really fair. It’s not fair… Rich or poor, ang lahat ng efforts mo sa buhay nandon sa anak mo… Lahat tayo, corny man pakinggan, we do not even live, we exist for our children…. lahat ng efforts mo, pera mo nandoon sa bata, eskuela …… Mas gusto ko pa yang kidnapping pati hold-up. Ikidnap mo anak ko, isauli mo lang, maghingi ka ng pera, babayaran kita, then the next time I will just really guard my children with my life… Put–na itong drugs, pagsinabit mo ang anak ko, I have lost the child forever. He loses his mind, he loses his future…you leave with me a goddamn criminal in the making, kasi pag wala nang pera, wala nang manakaw sa akin, magnanakaw yan sa iba, maghoholdup sa iba, magre-rape yan, maghohostage… Pinaka-unfair sa lahat ng krimen ang drugs. Meron pa dito sa Davao, hindi ko lang sabihin ang (pangalan), well-to-do, ni-rape nya yung sister, pinasok nya sa kwarto, pag pasok ng tatay pati nanay, tinutukan nya ng (cal.) 45 na baril… I’m sure pag nabasa nya (ito), malaman nya na alam ko.

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DUTERTE REVISITED: What he said in 2001

By Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews
Second of Three Parts
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29 November 2001: “I will even shoot my son in front of you”
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Q. They’re saying your son, your relatives are also involved in drugs.
A. ..Pati ako raw… Nag-research ako, and I studied the matter very carefully, seriously. Sinabi ko sa anak ko (Paolo), ‘wag na wag kang pumasok dyan sa put–nang droga na yan kasi gagawain kitang example. Kung kaya kong mag-resign (nung) nanuntok ka lang, kaya kitang patayin kung…hiyain mo ako.’ I resigned (as congressman) for a very trivial reason…. nanuntok (ang anak ko) ng security guard tapos inatake ako kay hindi maka-file (ng kaso) kasi daw congresman ang tatay….di mag-resign tayo so you can file charges. Unfortunately, nobody accepted my resignation but I was ready to go down.

This time I’m ready. Just produce a credible and true witness (that my son is involved in drugs) and I’m going to resign as mayor of Davao City and I will shoot my son in front of you. Siguraduhin mo lang yan kay pag hindi, ikaw talaga babarilin ko. Yan ang trade off ko sa iyo. I will resign from the mayorship anytime. I don’t have any illusions dyan sa mayor mayor na ‘yan. I can always run again and win. I can sacrifice a few years. I can lose my child. Dalawa yang anak ko (na lalaki). May mga apo na ako na lalaki. I can lose (my son)…. Ngayon kung maniwala yung mga tao (that my son is into drugs) bahala ka. My son is there, you can ask him to go for a drug test .. but I will not insult my son by asking him publicly so kung sino yung interesado, kausapin ninyo anak ko. Just produce a true, credible witness against my son and I will resign. And I will even shoot him in front of you.

Q. Were you ever asked by Malacanang about the vigilante killings here?
A. Wala. Well, I know my style. In this game, you cannot afford to (be on) low profile (because if you do that), walang mangyari… Look at the three years (1998-2001). What did it produce? A very resurgent drug situation. So I had to go back all over again. Kaya nga sinabi ko kay (Local Governments) Sec. (Joey) Lina when they offered me the regional chairmanship of the Peace and Order Council — now I can make this public — I declined… Sabi ko, ‘maghanap na lang kayo (ng iba) dyan because you might not like my style. I have my own style of doing it.’ Sabi nila, ‘well as long as your style is legal and good then proceed.’ Sabagay, legal gud talaga yang ginagawa ko..

Q. Let me go back to the solution. Maturing as a people takes so long. What is the immediate solution?
A. I think we would require from kindergarten (to) college, a lecture everyday on the evil of drugs..

Q. Where is the supply of illegal drugs here coming from?
A. Cotabato and Marawi but we suspect that there’s a factory nearby which I’m not at liberty to divulge to you right now.

Q. Within the city?
A. No. Peripheral cities.

Q. Shabu?
A. .this guy who’s manufacturing it knows that I know and a lot of us in the law enforcement know.

Q. So how come you’re not raiding it if you know…
A. Well, one of these days, kung na-DDS yan, ah hindi ako yan..

Q. .. if you know, why don’t you go after him?
A. Because you have to have evidence. You cannot just approach him anywhere and everywhere. May militia ito na sarili nya. Ganyan man talaga yang mga druglords na big-time. Ito ang pinaka. As a matter of fact, pag ito ang nakuha ko, puede na akong mag-retire pagka mayor..

Q. How bad is the problem of drugs here?
A. Very bad. Look at the list of 500… validated yan, 250 of them have been convicted, on parole or on bail. Yan ngang mahirap sa problema sa drugs…kasi pag-evaluate, assess na kung puede ba sya sa probation, good behavior is enough….automatic ang probation…. paglabas, babalik na naman (sa droga).

Q. What about rehabilitation? You don’t believe in rehab?
A. Wala tayo dito… next year baka maghingi ako kay Presidente… for a rehab dito sa Davao, regional (rehabilitation center). Because a rehab for that kind of, actually it’s a sickness eh, you would need a prison. Otherwise mag-eskapo yan.

Q. A prison?
A. Because when they are caught, they are not tried (in court)… they now opt to be treated… pag nilagay mo yan sa bintana na walang (rehas), a manibat na. Preso gyud na. Presohin mo talaga.

Duterte on Son

Q. How big will your rehabilitation center be?
A. …maybe I would need a facility good for 300 persons. Hindi halfway house. It’s really a rehab center and it’s almost like a prison.

Q. But rehab centers now don’t go into preso-preso..
A. Ah magsibat yan. Remember I was prosecutor for 11 years before I became a mayor. Sisibat yan…

Q. You were seen on TV kicking the corpse of..
A. Review again. Review again.

Q. I saw you on TV.
A. Nah, nah. May granada yon. Ano ako, gago, mag-upo ako..eh pag pumutok yan sa mukha ko?.. Kaya binaligtad ko yung katawan, nakita mo yung granada?

…Review the footage again, please. Hindi ako ganon kagago na may camera na magsipa. Ginanon ko kasi sabi, ‘Sir, ma-o nang gagunit ug granada.’

Q. In the meantime that the vigilantes are busy, what is your police doing?
A. Maybe they are also going after the vigilantes. Excuse me ha, yung footage na yon sayop yun. Tingnan mo uli. Binaligtad ko yung katawan because may granada. Eh kung mag-upo ako tapos ganunin ko yung katawan ko eh kung puputok yon? Mabuti nakatindig, at least pag nakita mo yung granada, di mulukso ka…

Q. October was the month of the killings. What was the feedback direct to you? More criticisms? More praises?
A. I don’t give a sh-t. I don’t give a sh-t whether they are for or against me. I was elected by the people after I promised them that I would go after kidnappers, druglords, drug pushers, holduppers and rapists… That’s already a non-issue to me. What they say for or against me, I don’t give a damn, I don’t give a sh-t. Tapos na yan. What I should do now is to honor my commitment because the people voted for me on the basis of my commitment and my promise to them… All things come naturally, infrastructure, public works. You can project the things you need. Crime? Can you project how many people will be contaminated by drugs, how many will be killed, how many girls will be raped?

Q. What’s the drug profile here like? Does it cut across..
A. Malala dito. Even professionals…Hayun, nasira ang mga pamilya.

Q. You said you’re not behind it but “sinasakyan” mo lang. But due process requires.
A. Due process is the thing that I should be following when I do it. Alam mo itong mga vigilantes….and it is really true for any human behavior…. sabihin mo ‘wag mong gawin yan,’ pag gusto nyang gawin, gagawin man talaga nya yan. Sabihin mo ‘hoy mga gago, mga buang, gawin nyo ito’ tapos ayaw naman nilang gawin, wala. So bahala kayo. Pag nahuli, sige, go ahead, kayong mga drug pushers, magtago na kayo, may mga gago on the loose pero kung mahuli ko kayong mga vigilantes, then that’s it. You also go to prison.

Q. You’re not gonna shoot them?
A. Well, I might just give them a dose of their own medicine. Ang sinasabi ko lang dito sa mga vigilantes, mga put–na na ito, ang problema ngayon, baka ipalusot ninyo yang patay ninyo, na pumatay lang kayo ng tao para sabihin lang ninyo na ‘ah drug pusher yan, druglord yan.’ Yan ang mahirap. One of these days I will catch up with them (vigilantes) and they’ll have to pay the price….because… whether it’s true or not, it’s already a crime but what makes it doubly sad for all of us is baka ang pinatay nila hindi nga (drug pusher). Then by the time I catch up…

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DUTERTE REVISITED: What he said in 2001
By Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews
Last of Three Parts
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November 30, 2001: “Totally, totally, totally unacceptable”
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Q. It seems like some other local chief executives are following your example.
A. Copycats. (Pause). Ah, example? Eh kung pinapatay ninyo, gago kayo, bawal yan. Salita lang, hanggang salita ka lang dapat dyan tapos let the others do it if they want. But if they are caught, again it’s your duty to punish them. Sakyan mo na lang….

Q. You’re not afraid? That druglords would..
A. I am, I am….there’s a report. I do not want to make it public, I do not want sympathies. But you always tread on dangerous paths… Kung wa tay suerte, di ganon na nga but I said I do what I have to do.

Q. If I were a druglord, I’d probably target you.
A. Mabuti yan kasi ako nakatutok rin sa iyo.

Q. I mean, if we follow their… you’re an obstacle.
A. Yes, because they’re losing business dito sa Davao…. They cannot really be based here — walang homegrown na criminal syndicate dito sa Davao — yan mapagyabang ko yan. Kidnapper, wala. Sa labas yan sila… sa peripheral cities. Yang kanilang pasok, they utilize the teenagers kasi alam nila teenagers dili mapreso eh…. always minors yang mga runners nila kasi pag minors, pagdating sa korte, suspended ang trial. The minor now goes to a halfway house, magsisibat yan or if at all they are caught… halos lahat na nahuli sa drugs… may perang pang bail (so) labas na naman yan sila, the following day laro naman. So if you’re doing brisk business in Davao, maski ganon ang delivery system mo, konti-konti lang, below 200 kasi bailable ang below 200 grams, masasaktan ka. And they (druglords) also correctly read me – nagpaplano rin ako sa kanila. Maybe one of these days, our paths will cross suddenly. It’s either their skin or mine… But I just want to assure everybody that there is no such thing as government-sponsored killing, initiated, abetted or encouraged by government. That is utterly false, I swear to God. Walang budget ang gobyerno para ganon.

Q. Narcopolitics is…
A. It will come.

Q. It’s not here?
A. I fear that one of these days it will just really come. Pagkaganon ang kinita nila, they can now support a mayor who’s a fencesitter…. Sa totoo lang, sino mang official nagsalita about drugs? Puro lip service…. ako, at least may ginagawa ako dito maski salita lang (na) “patayin ko kayo.”

Q. How much money on the average, daily, changes hands in the city in illegal drugs?
A. P600,000 to P700,000 daily. …may nahuli ngayon o yesterday, two kilos….I just came in from Manila. They will be presented tomorrow. Eh kung totoo yan, eh di pinatay ko na yan, laliman ka two kilos?

Q. (Laughs) Kay wala ka man, you were in Manila.
A. Cellular lang man na. Hello, hello..(laughs). Bu-ng. Pataka lang ka (laughs)

Q. P600,000 to 700,000? That’s a lot of money.
A. That’s a lot of battered brains. Kita mo, the city is cosmopolitan, 500 yung naglalaro dito, yung nasa listahan..half of that or a third of that validated na.

Q. Of the 500 on the list, how many approached you, aside from the families you mentioned.
A. More than a third of them naghingi ng tawad and … wanted their names delisted. Sabi ko, ‘no, your name stays there. All you have to do is to behave and I assure you nothing will happen.’ Because hindi naman talaga siguro papatay ang mga DDS kung wala ka na, gago naman tong mga vigilantes kung ganon. Sabi ko nga, pag nagkamali kayo na pinapatay na inosente eh di
pag inabot ko kayo, sila puy akong putulan ug ulo.

Q. Kung dili diay inosente, okay ra?
A. Hindi naman pero mas grabe kung (inosente). Doble nga eh. The fact that its’ being done is already sad. But to do it for personal reasons tapos i-attribute mo lang na drugs tapos wala naman pala, then you’re really sh-t.

Q. Isn’t this a slap on the face of the police?
A. No. The mayor has the operational control of the police. It’s a slap on me.

Q. It’s a slap on your face.
A. I admit full responsibility for the failure of the police to catch the vigilantes and

Duterte on Drugs

Q. And the drug pushers as well?
A. At least naghina na. That’s what I promised the people. I said you vote for me, I’ll do this. And sinakyan ko yung mga gago dyan (vigilantes). Maybe encouraged sila because bumalik na ako and they know that hardliner ako dyan sa crime. Sinakyan nila ako, sinakyan ko rin sila. Alang-alang magsabi ako na ‘o mga vigilantes, wag kayong pumatay, yung mga drug pushers dyan, hayaan lang ninyo, kung sa mahuli lang, kung hindi mahuli pasensyahan na lang.’ Ganon? Ah, patay ang syudad kung ganyan.. Lubong. With 1,600 policemen, 255,000 square hectares, 1.4 million population, you expect the police to solve every crime, not only to solve but build a case against each and every one of them? Ah, naghahanap ka ng langit nyan. That’s utopia. That’s Republic of Utopia. It’s not a republic anywhere in this planet.

Q. But we’re talking human rights here.
A. Human rights is there. Pero most of all, yang human rights is really for the defenseless, the hopeless, yung wala na silang matakbuhan. That’s my governance.

Q. Why do you like to be more chief of police than chief executive?
A. Because from my experience, if the place is not stable, forget about progress and development. I do not want to pull my own chair but to a modest degree, alam nyo na yan dito sa Davao, bakit gumanon tayo ngayon? Because I got rid of the kidnappers. I killed them all. Ah yang kidnappers, talagang I admitted it in public sa kampanya, pinutulan ko talaga ng ulo yung mga walanghiyang yan.

Q. Whatever you say, some people would still look at you as godfather…
A. Over and above all these loose talks, over and above all these allegations about these killings, about me as godfather, grandfather, uncle or whatever, the father of DDS, basta drugs, kidnapping, hold-up… rape tapos pinatay, those crimes are really unacceptable to me. Lalo na yang drugs because I’ve shown to you the dimensions of its inequity. You leave with me a problem which I have to solve for a lifetime…. Iwanan mo ako ng anak na criminal, na I do not know if he would rape his own mother, which is always happening everyday, pakinggan mo lang yang telebisyon, he will hostage his own sister, his own son, put a knife at the neck of an infant.

Ang drugs… totally, totally, and if I may say it for the third time, totally totally unacceptable sa akin, kaya pag andyan ka, ah, lalo na kung druglord ka, bigtime pusher ka, if you’re into kidnapping, if you are into hold-ups tapos ikaw mang-rape ka dyan.. if we happen to cross paths, if our journeys in life would cross each other, ah pasensya, pasensyahan na lang tayo. The President has declared that drugs is a national security problem… The Philippines may be poor… underdeveloped but it’s the only country I have and I love my country….pag this is the survival of my country, you go first… wag yung community, not the innocent people, not the families …

Q. This emphasis on ‘totally, totally totally unacceptable,’ where is this coming from? I mean, just to let the readers understand, what is your basis? A direct experience? Your son’s experience or what?
A. Well lahat na. No my son, wala, I can assure you (he’s not involved in drugs) otherwise I would resign. Yung unfairness…. Ayoko ng kidnapping. Ayoko gani yang magkapera ka sa mundong ito na hindi ka man lang mapagod, you make a living out of the expense of, specially the poor people. I don’t give a sh-t about the AB crowd. They can sniff heroin and shabu, they can afford it. Itong mahihirap, ito yung tinatamaan na talagang tama na wallop. Sila yung mga … very easy, vulnerable targets. Look, read again the newspapers. Before, every night may patay na taxi driver. Why, because they’re the most vulnerable targets. You don’t have money for the night for your shabu, okay, para ka ng taxi. You know he has the money, you can direct the guy to any place in Davao, secluded, silent, puede mong patayin kasi nakatalikod eh. O ngayon, may pinatay pa ba? See? From every night to nothing. Sabi ko totally, totally, totally because total ang focusing ko dyan. Sabi ko mahuli rin kita. One of these days, you watch out…just be patient, sabi nyo talagang malaki, I will get one but I will crucify him in front of the community. Maybe siguro that would be the first time that you can attribute something (to me) na ginagawa ng DDS. Pag talagang malaking-malaki na, ako na personally, wag na yung DDS. Tumabi kayo dyan, ako na mismo ang papapel, ako na ang magpahambug.

Q. How do you want history to remember you?
A. Simple. I did my duty, period. I did what I promised to the people, period. And I tried.

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Duterte on Leadership . PCIJ:MindaNews

Editor’s note: Fifteen years later, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is assuming the post as 16th President of the Philippines, the first Mindanawon to lead the country. The rehabilitation center he promised – the Davao City Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Drug Dependents does not resemble a prison. Before the city took over its operations, it was called Rehabilitation Center for Drug Dependents and was run by the Department of Social Welfare and Development Region XI with the support of the Regional Council for Welfare of Children & Youth.)

Sheila Coronel: A Golden Age of Global Muckraking at Hand

mcmangahas

By Sheila Coronel*
From Global Investigative Journalism Network

Editor’s Note: We are pleased to present this transcript of the keynote speech by Columbia University’s Sheila Coronel at the 2016 conference of Investigative Reporters and Editors on June 19. Coronel, who has played a key role in spreading investigative journalism worldwide, spoke to 1,850 people — the largest ever gathering of investigative journalists — about networks, collaborations, nonprofits, and a new golden age of global muckraking.
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TEN YEARS AGO, when I first moved to New York and gave my first lecture at the Columbia Journalism School, I told students that I believe we are at the dawn of a Golden Age of global muckraking. They were a great class, but they didn’t believe me.

But look at where we are now: It may not feel like it to some of you, but we are seeing, like never before, an explosion of investigative reporting around the world. There are now over 100 investigative reporting centers and organizations outside the U.S. Today, there are muckrakers even in places like Armenia, Bulgaria, Nepal, Venezuela, the Arab world.

Ten years ago, I told my students that I believe we are at the dawn of a Golden Age of global muckraking. They didn’t believe me.

These watchdog groups have seeded the unprecedented collaboration of journalists working across borders and across newsrooms. This past year has shown us how far international investigative reporting has come. Three examples.

This was the year the Panama Papers shook the world. Some 400 reporters from nearly 80 countries produced stories that made headlines everywhere. Their reporting on a leak of 11 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca caused the downfall of Iceland’s prime minister, Spain’s industry minister and Armenia’s most senior justice official. It also sparked tax evasion and money laundering investigations in several continents.

Working together under the direction of the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists, these reporters proved ¬– once and for all – that there is no such thing as offshore secrecy. Thanks to them, tax-evading billionaires, kleptocrats, drug lords and assorted money launderers are quaking in their private jets. They can run but they can’t hide.

Also this year, Seafood from Slaves, an investigation by the Associated Press, won the Pulitzer Prize’s highest honor. A global team of AP reporters found thousands of poor workers from Laos, Burma, and Cambodia held in bondage by operators of Thai fishing vessels.

The AP’s reporting led to the release of 2,000 slaves like Myint Naing, who had been trafficked from Burma and found on one of the Spice Islands in Indonesia. He had been kept 22 years a slave.
Finally, this is also the year the Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova was released from prison.

Khadija was arrested in Dec. 2014 and found guilty of tax evasion, embezzlement and abuse of power. Her reporting had exposed how Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev and his family had snapped up state assets. Using shell companies and nominees, they squirreled their wealth in luxury goods and real estate around the world. And yet it was Khadija, not them, who was accused, tried and jailed.

Khadija would still be behind bars today. But journalists all around the world, including many of you in this room, wrote about her and advocated on her behalf with their own governments and with the EU and the UN.

Her colleagues in the Organized Crime and Corruption Project and elsewhere also collaborated on stories exposing the corruption of the Aliyevs. They called it the Khadija Project, after the IRE’s own Arizona Project.

A lot has been said about how technology has empowered the new global investigative reporting. But it’s not machines that made all this great work possible. It’s people. People like us.

Many of you know that in 1976, a team of investigative reporters from IRE got together after Dan Bolles, an investigative journalist at the Arizona Republic, was killed by a car bomb. They agreed to continue reporting the story that Bolles had not lived to tell.

Their principle was: You can kill the journalist, but not the story.

Similarly, the Khadija Project’s message to the Aliyevs was: You can jail Khadija, but you cannot put an end to exposés. In the end, the Aliyev government realized that the political cost of keeping Khadija in prison outweighed the benefits of setting her free.

Last month, Khadija was released.

A lot has been said about how technology has empowered the new global investigative reporting. The Panama Papers and similar stories benefited from software that allows reporters to communicate and share documents securely across oceans, and from algorithms that enable them to search millions of documents in real time wherever they are.

Dateline New Orleans: Coronel’s record crowd included journalists from 32 countries.

Technology has given us new tools for dealing with big digital leaks and new sources of information, including, as in the case of Seafood from Slaves, ship sensors and satellites.

But let me tell you this: It’s not machines that made all this great work possible. It’s people. People like us. The successes I’ve described demonstrate not so much technological power as collaborative power… the power of individual reporters working together to produce journalism that is greater than the sum of each of their individual efforts.

Since the late 1990s, journalists from around the world have been meeting regularly in conferences and training workshops – like this one — and working jointly on increasingly ambitious cross-border reporting projects. These activities – and also those spirited discussions after hours (and by spirited, I mean alcohol-fueled) – have fostered camaraderie and trust. They have laid the groundwork for a truly global and networked journalism.

The era of the lone wolf is over.

Local and national accountability reporting will continue to be important, but the muckrakers of the future will no longer be so tightly tethered to the nation-state. Crime, corruption, you name it, pollution, human trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion, viruses like Zika, purchases of luxury real estate, the food we eat, the clothes we wear: All these breach national boundaries.

Since the 1990s, journalists from around the world have been meeting regularly in conferences and workshops. These activities have laid the groundwork for a truly global and networked journalism. The era of the lone wolf is over.

And thanks to a global community of muckrakers, the barriers to doing cross-border reporting are no longer insurmountable.

A borderless world needs watchdogs who can transcend borders. The Panama Papers, the Khadija Project, Offshore Leaks are examples of how this can done. They showcase the new global, networked investigative journalism.

Today, the news industry is facing huge challenges in terms of falling revenues. Moreover, all around the world — even in countries that have a free press — governments, corporations and in too many cases, terrorists and demagogues, autocrats and mafia lords, are stifling independent reporting.

There is no silver bullet, no Holy Grail that will end this crisis of news. We are in uncharted terrain. The new, global, networked journalism provides us ONE path forward, ONE model for doing ambitious, high-impact accountability reporting efficiently, rigorously, more cheaply, also more securely.

The most daring and cutting-edge accountability reporting around the world is being done by nonprofits, financially fragile papers or online news sites, and freelancers. They are extremely vulnerable.

This network model is still fluid and evolving. Unlike traditional newsrooms, networked journalism is, for better or for worse, horizontal and non-hierarchical. Membership in the network is informal – there are no membership lists or dues. Members are linked by bonds of reciprocity and trust, and also by self-interest. Units within the network may be competitive, but they choose to share and to work together on specific projects and for particular goals.

Crime and corruption networks work this way and so do jihadist groups. Their activities and lines of communication reach across national borders. Like the mythical Hydra–many heads, hard to find, difficult to exterminate. There are hubs, but no single mission control. Cross-border journalist networks operate the same way, that’s why they are effective. As the Pentagon has now realized about fighting jidhadists, “It takes a network to defeat a network.”

But how can networked journalism be sustained? Until about a decade ago, investigative reporting in the US was robust because it was propped up by a support structure of profitable news organizations that invested in reporting, independent courts that protected press freedom and the right to information, journalism schools that trained the next generation of muckrakers, and prizes that celebrated outstanding work. And of course, there’s IRE. You don’t know how lucky you were, and still are.

Crime and corruption networks reach across national borders. There are hubs, but no single control. Cross-border journalist networks are similar. As the Pentagon now realizes, “It takes a network to defeat a network.”

Elsewhere, there are huge gaps in the support structure. The most daring and cutting-edge accountability reporting around the world is being done by nonprofits, financially fragile newspapers or online news sites, and freelancers. They can barely scrape the money for ambitious reporting. They are also extremely vulnerable to legal harassment and physical threats. In these places, the courts are compromised and governments are unable to protect journalists from those who would them harm.
In too many places, investigative reporting is a high wire act – without a safety net.

Behind its many successes, cross-border investigative reporting is a flickering flame. It needs to be funded and protected. But how and by whom? Who pays for a global public good?

For sure, we have vibrant organizations that keep the fire burning. The Global Investigative Journalism Network is the communications & resource hub for watchdogs around the world. GIJN organizes meetings that bring international journalists to talk about tradecraft. Many of the early collaborative reporting projects were conceived in the corridors of these global conferences.
We have watchdog groups in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Arab world that train journalists, bring them together to discuss common issues and problems, and also fund their work. The OCCRP reports on the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, and other regions on the issues of crime and corruption. And of course, you are all familiar with ICIJ’s stellar work as a hub for distributed, cross-border reporting. It’s headquartered in Washington, D.C. but its staff is a microcosm of the world: The ICIJ director is Irish & worked in Australia, his deputy is from Argentina; the data team is headed by a Spaniard, my former student Mar Cabra, and the chief data analyst is Costa Rican. And there are some very talented Americans there, too, of course.

But funding is tight. David Kaplan, the guru of GIJN, estimates that donors invest at most $20 million a year in international investigative reporting.

That’s about 0.2% of the 7 billion pounds worth of London real estate secretly purchased by prime ministers, business magnates and others using offshore companies established by Mossack Fonseca. Thanks to the Panama Papers, The Guardian found all these properties. Seven billion pounds.

In other words, the investment in global investigative reporting pays off. Massively. The reforms that the Panama Papers have set in motion worldwide will hopefully result in billions of dollars in recovered wealth or unpaid taxes. The OCCRP estimates that the total of money frozen or paid in fines since it started work has reached $3 billion.

The Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism has nearly single-handedly introduced investigative reporting techniques and the notion of accountability in the Arab world. In the past 10 years it has trained 1,600 journalists, including the Arab reporters who worked on the Panama Papers. If we know now that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his allies skirted international sanctions by registering shell companies in places like the Seychelles, it’s because of ARIJ.

What a spectacular return on investment.

Where there is despair that nothing can be done, we offer some hope that if we shine the light on the wrongdoing, the world can be a better place. I am proud to be part of this global community of muckrakers.

In the end, however, the most valuable investments in global watchdog reporting have been made by individual journalists willing to put their lives and their freedoms on the line in order to expose wrongdoing. Khadija Ismayilova remained in Azerbaijan to report, knowing that she would sooner or later end up in jail. Not many of us – I hope – will ever be in her situation but we’re inspired by her courage and strength of purpose.

Hamoud Almahmoud continued teaching an investigative reporting course at the University of Damascus, despite the artillery fire around him. “The university was very close to the frontlines of the fighting,” he recalled “I was teaching despite all the shelling.”

Hamoud is in Amman now, where he is research director of ARIJ. But many of his colleagues in Syria have been killed or fled the country. “We see the window of hope is narrowing,” he told me, “but we are surviving and we are still doing stories.”

Lina Attalah edits the independent website Mada Masr in Egypt that could be closed any time under onerous press laws. But she and her young staff continue to do investigative reporting in order, she says, to “activate the conversation, to reopen the political space, and engage the public in conversation.”

Oscar Martinez heads the investigative unit of El Faro, an online news site in El Salvador. He’s received numerous threats for his stories on gang violence and extrajudicial killings. Last year, he had to flee the country. He’s back but he has panic buttons and other security systems in his house. He can’t even take his three-year-old daughter to the park for fear of attack.

Oscar writes beautifully about the most horrific things that people do to each other. Recalling his reporting on migrants crossing from Central America to the US, this is what he told the Texas Observer:

If there are women who had the courage to tell you how they’d been raped along the path… you as a journalist don’t have the right to just pit that back out onto a page. You have to take the time, dedicate energy and put in a lot of work to write this the best way you can so that that person’s story can generate the feeling of impotence, the rage, the compassion and the hate that it should generate.

Writing, he said, is an ethical responsibility.

For Oscar, for Lina, Hamoud and Khadija, as it is for me, and I’m sure many of you, investigative reporting is more than just exposing the bastards, although that is immensely satisfactory. I started reporting during the twilight of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, when the press was so heavily censored, we couldn’t even publish photographs showing Imelda’s double chin. For me, investigative reporting is about opening up spaces, providing facts to inform intelligent public debate, making readers empathize with the suffering of others.

Where there is despair that everything is broken and nothing can be done, we offer some hope that if we shine the light on the wrongdoing, the world can be a better place. I am proud to be part of this global community of muckrakers. We can; we should; we must keep going and I hope – I KNOW – we will all stand together.

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*Sheila S. Coronel is Dean of Academic Affairs at the Columbia Journalism School and director of the school’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism. She is co-founder and former executive director of the pioneering Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, based in Manila.