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Karim Raslan

Norma Lopez’s son, Djastin, was shot dead two-and a half years ago. He was 23 years old and one of 5,526 documented victims of President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal crackdown on drugs.
“If there was no ‘war on drugs’, I would have been able to spend Christmas with my son,” she says.
On the day he was murdered, Normita had a feeling something was wrong.
“Perhaps that’s why I tried to stop him from leaving,” she recalls.
Because of her unwillingness to remain silent, Normita has since been forced to flee her home in Tondo, Manila. She now lives with a relative in another part of the city.
She remembers vividly the last time she saw her son. He received a text message from a friend asking him to come outside and left in a hurry.
“Everyone called him ‘Tirik’ because he was epileptic,” she says, referring to the way a persons’ eyes move during a seizure.
Hours later, she received news from a neighbour that policemen had opened fire. She tried desperately to contact her son, to no avail. After night fell, the same neighbour returned with more news: Tirik was dead.


Normita rushed to the scene, her mind fixated on the colour and brand of the shirt her son had been wearing: a bright yellow Nike. According to the neighbour, the victim was wearing blue and grey. She managed only a glimpse of the corpse, sprawled next to several villagers arrested by police.
“I couldn’t believe it, but I was crying anyway,” she says. “I was just crying and crying.”
The morning brought both fresh light and devastating certainty. Normita was able to see the body and broke down again. There was no doubt: she had seen Djastin’s face. Still, she was told to keep her distance and the family was not allowed to claim the body.
A few days later, the police claimed Djastin had been killed in a shoot-out. However, Normita heard accusations the first officers on the scene had arranged Djastin’s body to conceal the fact he was gunned down while surrendering.
“Why didn’t they arrest him? His hands where raised,” she says.

Normita has filed a case against the government, alleging a cover-up. She has testified about her experiences and is now a volunteer in Rise Up, a local NGO that supports the families of victims of the Philippines’ extrajudicial killings.
“I want to provide help and company to the families who share my experience,” she says. “We’ve all had loved ones killed by Duterte’s war on drugs.
“Sometimes I think and imagine he is sleeping beside me. Where I can hold him close. My [other] children would tell me ‘Mom stop, stop crying’. I say, ‘I cannot accept it’. But I try to keep things together for them. They’ve seen me laugh, to forget. But I cannot accept this. I still have not accepted it.”

Earlier this year, Amnesty International published a reported claiming Duterte has overseen a “large-scale murdering enterprise” and should be investigated by the United Nations for crimes against humanity. The drug war widely supported by many Filipinos but the Amnesty report alleged the crackdown has led to a “systematic” campaign of abuses with the poor disproportionately affected.
And yet life goes on. As Christmas approaches, Normita has been preparing gifts for about 200 families affected by the war on drugs. This is her third Christmas without Djastin. The family will visit the cemetery where he is buried. His birthday was December 31.
She remains determined to win the case against the government on behalf of her son and, as she sees it, for all the families torn apart by the killings.
“The police have tried to bribe me and my husband to close the case but I will put all of them to shame,” she says. “I will fight for as long as I am alive.”


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The Philippines

Philippines’ war on drugs casts a long shadow over grieving families at Christmas

Officially, President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has claimed 5,526 lives. Photo: team Ceritalah

war on drugs

Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs is ‘large-scale murdering enterprise’, Amnesty says, as the poor are targeted and killed by police

Policemen at the scene of a drug-related killing in Manila. Photo: AFP

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / This photo taken on July 7, 2019, shows Lilia Jacobe, the grandmother of Bryan Conje, crying at his wake, who went missing on July 2, but was found dead on July 5 under a bridge where he lived. - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's narcotics crackdown has become a "systematic" campaign of abuses, Amnesty International alleged on July 8, 2019, urging the United Nations to launch a probe into thousands of killings. (Photo by Noel CELIS / AFP)

epa07663116 Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during the oath taking ceremony of his son, Vice-mayor elect Sebastian Duterte (not in picture) in Davao city, southern Philippines, 21 June 2019. Duterte's three children are holding goverment positions; Sara is elected Davao city mayor, Paolo is elected representative and Sebastian as vice mayor. EPA-EFE/CERILO EBRANO

In Philippine slums, meat scavenged from dumpsters feeds those short of meals and hope

Myrna Salazar collects pagpag at Joe’s Junk Shop in Payatas. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Pagpag. Manila.

Pagpag being prepared in Payatas, Manila. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Inside Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug purge: how local residents work with Philippine police to compile ‘hit lists’

Police officers stand guard near a crime scene where a suspected drug addict was shot dead by unidentified gunmen. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016 file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, gestures as he poses with Philippine Army officers during his visit to the Army headquarters in suburban Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines as U.S. and Philippine forces opened their first large scale combat exercises. An independent poll released Thursday, Oct. 6, showed that more than three-quarters of Filipinos are satisfied with President Rodrigo Duterte, even though he is under fire internationally for his deadly crackdown on suspected drug dealers and users. The survey, conducted by Social Weather Stations from Sept. 24 to Sept. 27 and published Thursday. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATHRescue workers carry a man into an ambulance after he was shot by unidentified gunmen in metro Manila, Philippines, September 17, 2016. The man was later pronounced dead at the hospital, according to local media reports. Picture taken September 17, 2016. To match Special Report PHILIPPINES-DUTERTE/HITLISTS REUTERS/Ezra Acayan

A motorcyclist drives past an anti-drugs poster outside a town hall in Pasig city, metro Manila, Philippines September 15, 2016. Picture taken September 15, 2016. To match Special Report PHILIPPINES-DUTERTE/HITLISTS REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

Dinah Guevarra, a village chief, leads the pledging of a new life of a married couple who are self-confessed drug users and had voluntarily surrendered to the police's "Operation Tokhang (approach and talk)" in Pasig city, metro Manila, Philippines September 15, 2016. Picture taken September 15, 2016. To match Special Report PHILIPPINES-DUTERTE/HITLISTS REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

Zendey Celestino views the body of her husband Neptali Celestino, who was killed in a police anti-drugs operation in Pasig city, metro Manila, Philippines September 15, 2016. Picture taken September 15, 2016. To match Special Report PHILIPPINES-DUTERTE/HITLISTS REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

This Week in Asia

People


Norma Lopez’s son was shot dead by police in 2017. Now she works on behalf of other families affected by the brutal crackdown
Officially, President Rodrigo Duterte’s purge has claimed 5,526 lives, prompting Amnesty International to describe it as a ‘large-scale murdering enterprise’



Norma Lopez’s son was shot dead by police in 2017. Now she works on behalf other families affected by the brutal crackdown.


Rodrigo Duterte

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Ceritalah

Ceritalah | Philippines’ war on drugs casts a long shadow over grieving families at Christmas

Norma Lopez’s son was shot dead by police in 2017. Now she works on behalf of other families affected by the brutal crackdown Officially, President Rodrigo Duterte’s purge has claimed 5,526 lives, prompting Amnesty International to describe it as a ‘large-scale murdering enterprise’

Norma Lopez’s son was shot dead by police in 2017. Now she works on behalf of other families affected by the brutal crackdown

Officially, President Rodrigo Duterte’s purge has claimed 5,526 lives, prompting Amnesty International to describe it as a ‘large-scale murdering enterprise’