Philippine President's War on Drugs - Launched March 30, 2017 - Full multimedia experience: audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Ever since Rodrigo Duterte was voted in as Philippines President in June 2016, he has been making good on his threats of 'Killing all criminals' during a campaign that promised to bring law and order to the Philippines through the barrel of a gun. Overwhelmingly, death comes by night in the poorest quarters of the Philippine capital, Manila which has become one of the murder capitals of the world. Bloodied corpses are sprawled in the street in a never ending array of grotesque tableaux. Sometimes a warning scribbled on a scrap of cardboard is left by the body: 'I'm a pusher. Don't be like me.' In the nine months since Duterte took office, the total body count of suspected drug dealers or users tops 8,000 with an estimated 4,000 of those deaths vigilante or extrajudicial killings. Duterte has made the drug war his signature issue, and he vowed to clean up the problem in six months. He recently announced that he had 'miscalculated' and that the problem was larger than he realized. He vowed to continue the drug war 'until the last pusher is out in the streets, until the last drug lord is killed.' The spate of killings has drawn condemnation from human rights groups that contend many of the deaths amount to illegal executions.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

October 5, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Blood left by the lifeless body of Benjamin Visda (not pictured) flows into a puddle on the muddy unpaved road where the drug suspect was shot dead by plainclothes police. Eyewitnesses who refused to be identified claimed that Visda pleaded for his life before being shot in the back of the head. They claimed that the policemen then removed his handcuffs, which were locked behind his back and put them on with his hands in front of his body. The killing occurred around 100m from Tondo Police Station 1.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

MORNAY GAYOSA, 7, and CINDY CENTENO, 17 next to the corpse of JEFFRY MENDOZA, 3, which lies in a coffin at his wake a the Matandang Balara. Mendoza was shot dead by police on September 23 during a 'buy bust' operation on a drug den. Police reported that Mendoza and six others fired upon police. Family claim that the slain men were unarmed. Due to fear in the community, neighbours are staying away from the wake. Mendoza's family is struggling to raise the funds to bury him.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

September 23, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - A young man who surrendered to police as a drug user poses with a 'Duterte for President' cap at a basketball court used for processing people who have been either arrested or who have surrendered to police in Duterte's drug war.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

September 24, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Two victims of a vigilante killing lie dead by a Ford Ranger pick-up truck outside a the M-X Club casino on the corner of Domingo M. Guevara and Galbayog Streets in the middle class suburb of Mandaluyung City. According to people at the scene, the men were each shot twice in the head by a masked assassin who arrived with an accomplice on a motorscooter. A piece of cardboard was left at the scene saying that the victims were 'drug lords from Rizal Province.'
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

September 24, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Local bystanders at the scene of a double homicide. Two male victims were shot dead next to a Ford Ranger pick-up truck outside a the M-X Club casino on the corner of Domingo M. Guevara and Galbayog Streets in the middle class suburb of Mandaluyung City. According to people at the scene, the men were each shot twice in the head by a masked assassin who arrived with an accomplice on a motorscooter. A piece of cardboard was left at the scene saying that the victims were 'drug lords from Rizal Province.'
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

September 24, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Members of a Scene Of Crime Operation (SOCO) unit inspect the body of an unknown drug suspect lies on a bed in a shanty down near the Port of Manila. According to residents, people were ordered to stay inside their homes by police before they heard two shots. Police report that the deceased resisted arrest during a 'buy bust' operation and was shot dead by police.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

September 24, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - A victim of a vigilante killing lies dead by a Ford Ranger pick-up truck outside a the M-X Club casino on the corner of Domingo M. Guevara and Galbayog Streets in the middle class suburb of Mandaluyung City. According to people at the scene, this man and another were each shot twice each in the head by a masked assassin who arrived with an accomplice on a motorscooter. A piece of cardboard was left at the scene saying that the victims were 'drug lords from Rizal Province.'
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

October 5, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - The lifeless body of drug suspect BENJAMIN VISDA lies in a pool of blood on a muddy unpaved road 100m from Tondo Police Station 1. Police at the scene claimed that Visda, who was handcuffed, had resisted arrest and was killed in a struggle after he had grabbed one of the officers' guns. Eyewitnesses at the scene who refused to be identified claimed that Visda was beaten by ununiformed police as he pleaded for his life before being shot in the back of the head. They claimed that the policemen then removed his handcuffs, which were locked behind his back and put them on with his hands in front of his body.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

October 5, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Locals gather near the scene where drug suspect Benjamin Visda was shot dead by plain clothed police on a muddy unpaved road around 100m from Tondo Police Station 1. Eyewitnesses who refused to be identified claimed that Visda pleaded for his life before being shot in the back of the head. The claimed that the policemen then removed his handcuffs, which were locked behind his back and put them on with his hands in front of his body.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

September 23, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Police Senior Superintendent JOSELITO T ESQUIVEL Jr, Deputy District Director for Administration at Quezon City Police District.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

Printed photographs of Danica Mae Garcia, 5, (deceased) and her grandfather Maximo Garcia. Danica was shot and killed in crossfire during an attempted hit on her grandfather during a family lunch. Garcia, who survived the hit, but is now in hiding, had been named on a list of drug suspects and targeted by unknown assassins in President Duterte's war on drugs, which has so far claimed more than 3,500 lives.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

GEMMA GARCIA, 51, and her daughter DAISY GARCIA, 29, at their home where Daisy's daughter Danica Mae Garcia, 5, was shot and killed in crossfire during an attempted hit on her grandfather Maximo Garcia during a family lunch. Maximo Garcia, who survived the hit, but is now in hiding, had been named on a list of drug suspects and targeted by unknown assassins in President Duterte's war on drugs, which has so far claimed more than 3,500 lives.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

October 3, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Patients being disciplined at a Department of Health Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre. They are required to stand this way for one hour for breaking rules such as fighting or spitting. The center has a capacity of 550, but now has 1500 patients, including men, women and children. It includes a school. Eighty to ninety percent of patients are methylamphetamine addicts, mostly from the poorest section of society. The centre is being expanded fast, with new buildings underway.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

September 28, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Detail of a 'Drug Personality Watchlist' that includes the name of Maximo Garcia whose granddaughter Danica Mae Garcia, 5, was shot and killed in crossfire during an attempted hit on Maximo during a family lunch. Maximo Garcia is now in hiding. President Duterte's war on drugs has so far claimed more than 3,500 lives.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

October 4, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Prisoners in the holding cells at Tondo Police Station 1. Holding cells are at well over maximum capacity as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on illegal drugs brings in thousands of drug suspects. His unprecedented crackdown has resulted in the killing of 3,600 over the past 12 weeks.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

October 3, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - Patients at a Department of Health Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center. The centre has a capacity of 550, but now has 1500 patients, including men, women and children. It includes a school. Eighty to ninety percent of patients are methylamphetamine addicts, mostly from the poorest section of society. The center is being expanded fast, with new buildings underway.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

September 23, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - A child rides a bike past a house, where seven young men where shot and killed. Police report that the home was used as a drug den where methylamphetamine, also known as shabu was bought and consumed and that the men fired upon police during a drug raid. A family of one of the victims claims the men were unarmed and summarily executed.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire

October 2, 2016 - Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines - NOLI CONCORDIA, 61, near his home in the Rizal slum. Concordia's thirty-eight year old son Manolita was shot dead by masked men in an extra-judicial killing that is a hallmark of President Duterte's war on drugs.
© Dave Tacon/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire