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Duterte's Drug War: Kian's Case

The "War on Drugs" was started by President Rodrigo Duterte when he campaigned for president, promising a crackdown on drug dealers and users similar to his actions as mayor of Davao City. Following his election, the Philippine National Police launched "Oplan Tokhang", a nationwide anti-drug operation. Tokhang involves police going door-to-door, knocking ("toktok") and pleading ("hangyo") with alleged drug users and dealers to surrender peacefully. However, over 6,000 people had been killed by early 2017 as part of the crackdown, with over 2,100 deaths occurring in police operations and the rest being vigilante killings.

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211 views2 pages

Duterte's Drug War: Kian's Case

The "War on Drugs" was started by President Rodrigo Duterte when he campaigned for president, promising a crackdown on drug dealers and users similar to his actions as mayor of Davao City. Following his election, the Philippine National Police launched "Oplan Tokhang", a nationwide anti-drug operation. Tokhang involves police going door-to-door, knocking ("toktok") and pleading ("hangyo") with alleged drug users and dealers to surrender peacefully. However, over 6,000 people had been killed by early 2017 as part of the crackdown, with over 2,100 deaths occurring in police operations and the rest being vigilante killings.

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The Kian Loyd Delos Santos Case

How did the “War on Drugs” started?

 When Rodrigo Duterte campaigned for president, he claimed that drug


dealing and drug addiction were major obstacles to the Philippines’ economic
and social progress. He promised a large-scale crackdown on dealers and
addicts, similar to the crackdown that he engaged in when he was mayor of
Davao, one of the Philippines’ largest cities on the southern island of
Mindanao. 1
 His rhetoric has been widely understood as an endorsement of extrajudicial
killings, as it has created conditions for people to feel that it’s appropriate to
kill drug users and dealers.2
 Following President Duterte’s inauguration, the Philippines National Police
launched a nationwide anti-drug operation named “PNP Oplan—Operation
Double Barrel Project Tokhang.”3

Oplan Tokhang
 Tokhang is a made-up word, formed by joining common Visayan terms
together: “toktok” or knock, “hangyo” or request or plead.4
 “The spirit of ‘tokhang,’ if implemented properly, is bloodless. That’s why it’s
called knock and plead,”
 Personnel knocks the doors of an alleged drug user or pusher, asking him/her
that he/she will surrender to the police in order that they will be monitored
for further assessment. 5
 By early December of 2016, nearly 6,000 people had been killed: about 2,100
have died in police operations and the remainder in what are called “deaths
under investigation,” which is shorthand for vigilante killings. There are
also claims that half a million to seven hundred thousand people have
surrendered themselves to the police. More than 40,000 people have been
arrested.6

1 M. Xu. (2016 December 16). Human Rights and Duterte’s War on Drugs. Council on Foreign
Relations. https://www.cfr.org/interview/human-rights-and-dutertes-war-drugs
2 Ibid
3 D. Simbol. (2016 July 1) “TOKTOK-HANGYO: Tarlac cops conduct ‘Oplan Tokhang.

Interaksyon.com. http://interaksyon.com/article/129823/toktok-hangyo--tarlac-cops-conduct-
oplan-tokhang
4 Philippine Daily Inquirer (24 January 2018) The ‘true spirit’ of ‘tokhang’.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/110514/true-spirit-tokhang
5 http://www.calambamisocc.gov.ph/index.php/the-mayor-mainmenu-160/54-news/411-pnp-

oplan-tokhang
6 M. Xu. (2016 December 16). Human Rights and Duterte’s War on Drugs. Council on Foreign

Relations. https://www.cfr.org/interview/human-rights-and-dutertes-war-drugs

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