Click here for all the latest updates
Glossary
"Salvage" implies a grim and dualistic meaning, serving as a euphemism for extrajudicial killings in the Philippines' war on drugs. While the term traditionally suggests rescue or preservation, here it denotes the cold, systemic elimination of suspected criminals without trial. "Salvage" reflects a perverse normalization of violence, as bodies are repurposed into warnings for the living, their deaths labeled as necessary actions against societal ills (Evangelista, 2023). This contronym captures the societal indifference towards these killings, where the community accepts such brutality as a means of maintaining order, highlighting the moral decay in the face of state-sanctioned violence.
Contrition in this context embodies the deep remorse and guilt felt by individuals who supported Rodrigo Duterte, recognizing the devastating consequences of their choices on innocent lives. Characters like Jason Quizon, Ann Valdez, and Joy Tan exemplify this sentiment, struggling with their past blind faith in Duterte's leadership amid the horrors of extrajudicial killings and state violence (Evangelista, 2023). Jason's candid acknowledgment of his regret, Ann's destruction of a home built as a tribute to Duterte, and Joy's awakening to the loss of lives like Kian's reflect his internal struggle. Their contrition is a personal crisis, as citizens confront the harsh reality of enabling a regime that normalized brutality. This sense of remorse highlights the urgent need for accountability and change, as well as a commitment to safeguarding human rights in the Philippines moving forward.
Journal Articles
Movies
When Rodrigo Duterte is voted president of the Philippines, he sets in motion a machinery of death to execute suspected drug dealers, users, and small time street criminals. ASWANG follows people whose lives entwine with the growing violence. (From IMDB)
With unprecedented access, The Nightcrawlers is an unflinching exposé of Philippines President Duterte’s war on drugs, in which some claim over 20,000 people have been killed. RL, a former staff photographer for a prominent newspaper, leads the Manila Nightcrawlers, a small group of determined photojournalists on a mission to expose the true cost of the violent campaign. Through covering both sides of the conflict, The Nightcrawlers reveals a harrowing twist behind Duterte’s deadly crusade.
An aspiring young rapper strikes up an unexpected friendship with an elderly bookstore owner who has a dark past of his own.
The searing story of President Duterte's bloody campaign against drug dealers and addicts in the Philippines, told with unprecedented and intimate access to both sides of the war - the Manila police, and an ordinary family from the slum. Shot in the style of a thriller, this observational film combines the look and feel of a narrative feature film with a real life revelatory journalistic investigation into a campaign of killings. The film uncovers a murky world where crime, drugs and politics meet in a deathly embrace - and reveal that although the police have been publicly ordered to stop extra-judicial killings, the deaths continue.
Music
Kolateral (lit. Collateral)
is a studio rap album by Sandata, a group headed by Filipino rap artists and activists BLKD and Calix.
Listen below:
