Anti-drug vigilantes and state forces each perpetrate roughly equal shares of the violence, and the activity of each appears largely responsive to changes in government policy. The graph below shows nearly simultaneous cycles of drug violence perpetrated by state and non-state actors. Such accusations are supported by the in-tandem rise and fall of violence perpetrated by the state and anti-drug vigilantes. However, further damning are accusations that at least some of the extrajudicial killings carried out by vigilantes were outsourced to them by the police ( Rappler, 2018 ), or may even be police in masks and/or are groups relying on police to secure the perimeter in the lead up to such attacks ( Deutsche Welle, 2017 ). This has resulted in the targeting of suspects by anti-drug vigilantes, seemingly emboldened by the current climate. In addition to the PNP, Duterte has also urged people to seek out and kill suspected drug addicts ( The Guardian, 2016 ). A report by Amnesty International highlighted the ‘economy of murder’ that has been established as a result of “cash reward paid out for every dead body incentiviz police to kill individuals who were mostly poor and often defenseless” - with no payment given for arrests ( Deutsche Welle, 2017 ). The Philippine National Police (PNP) is responsible for many of the executions, and is accused of planting guns and evidence next to drug suspects they have executed ( Human Rights Watch, 2018 Reuters, 2017 ). What has elicited international condemnation is the way in which violence in the Philippines has been supported by the government. And finally, despite stopgap measures, Duterte’s focus on the War on Drugs has diverted meaningful attention from other political violence issues in the Philippines. Second, publicly available data represent only a small portion of the total extent of the war on drugs, which in turn indicate that the official death toll is likely a vast underestimate of the total human cost of this war. ACLED’s newly updated data allow several preliminary conclusions: first, anti-drug ‘vigilantes’, which perpetrate roughly half of the total drug violence reported, are likely supported by or under the control of Duterte’s regime, despite their unofficial status. The campaign has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Filipinos, largely the urban poor ( Human Rights Watch, 2018 ). This ‘war’ refers to the drug policy of the Philippine government, aimed at “ the neutralization of illegal drug personalities nationwide” ( Rappler, 2017 ). In very different ways, these movies all tell important and poignant stories that need to be heard.President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in the Philippines in June 2016 and shortly thereafter declared a ‘War on Drugs’.
Fortunately, a number of great new war flicks found a perfect balance between the need for entertainment and the necessity to inform.
Sure, it's Hollywood so these films must also entertain us with bombs, shootings, and romantic heroism, but filmmakers should not forget the severity of their topic.
Make them intensely personal so that we, who live in peace, may in some way grasp what it means to live there. Filmmakers in the field of the warfare genre should tell the tales of people living in warzones like Syria. We can learn much from the news and fine war journalism, but we see so many of those images that they become devoid of meaning. Troops are perhaps no longer fully deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan, and the First and Second World Wars are far behind us, but that does not mean nothing is going on, for example in places like the Middle-East that we should know about. Sad as it may be, there are and always will be gripping war stories to tell.