WAR ON DRUGS: Punishing the Poor

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1 A YEAR OF DUTERTISMO UNPACKING ITS POLICIES, VISION, AND DIRECTION WAR ON DRUGS: Punishing the Poor BY CLARISSA V. MILITANTE

2 Where lies the coherence? Patayin ko kayo = more than 7, 000 deaths via police operations & extrajudicial killings (death under investigation/dui) A YEAR OF DUTERTISMO UNPACKING ITS POLICIES, VISION, AND DIRECTION

3 Punishing the Poor Wacquant: in his books Punishing the Poor The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity and Ordering Insecurity Social Polarization and the Punitive Upsurge, underscores the link between the ascendancy of neoliberalism (1980s onwards) as political-economic project and the rise of the punitive state. A YEAR OF DUTERTISMO UNPACKING ITS POLICIES, VISION, AND DIRECTION

4 Social-Economic backdrop of Tokhang Rapid Urbanization Expanding urban poor population poverty incidence and magnitude more marked social division in urban areas between the haves and have-nots rise of commercial enclaves and fenced/secured residential areas while public facilities in urban poor districts are undergoing decay

5 Story in numbers Fast-paced transformation from mid- 70s to the 2000s in Metro Manila and its peripheries, namely the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Bulacan, Tarlac Metro Manila reached a hundred percent level of urban land use in the 70s Construction booms in the periods , , and

6 According to PIDS: Metro Manila s slums will increase to 53.6 percent of its population, and one-third of all residents of large towns and cities (33.7) percent will likely be slum dwellers the growth of slum population from years 2004 to 2006 was 3.4 percent annually, exceeding the population growth of urban and metropolitan areas at 2.3 percent and these Where were the slum dwellers: located in more than 500 dispersed shantytown communities particularly in Quezon City, Manila, Caloocan, Navotas, Las Pinas, Paranaque, Marikina, and Makati City.

7 More recent data In 2014, the magnitude of urban population in the Philippines was already 44,104, 820 (or around 44 percent of the population) Philippines, sixth most urbanized in Southeast Asia in terms of the percentage of urban population. Still in 2014, magnitude of slum population registered at 17,055,400, or about 38 percent of the total urban population.

8 Tokhang in numbers From PCIJ (June 2017), the top five regions in terms of deaths as of January 2017: 2,555 killed (police figures/from police operations) Metro Manila with 983; Central Luzon 484; CALABARZON 304, Central Visayas, 167, and Davao region, 89. Data killed during police operations match the data of DUI (3,952 of the total also as of January 2017), the highest were also: Metro Manila or NCR, followed by CALABARZON & Central Luzon (with a little difference/variation from the those killed in police operations where Central Luzon came in 2nd). In DUI, Central Visayas & Davao were at #5; Northern Mindanao, #4.

9 Social-Cultural Context & Impact It s about spatial divide: social-economic divide in urban and urbanizing areas, specifically in Metro Manila and its peripheries to the south and north, is reflected in how space has been used and who has benefited. Urban apartheid

10 Numbers behind insecurity/threat A recent Pulse Asia survey showed that 82 percent of Metro Manila residents feel safer as a result of the war on drugs. General Dela Rosa also claimed that the reduction in the crime rate in the past year from mid-2016 to the first half of 2017 is due to project double barrel or tokhang Under Pnoy: claim of success too as a result of Oplan Lambat-Sibat

11 PNP Stats PNP data also show that crime rates have been declining, although not steadily from ; 16 percent from 2013 to 2015 and five percent from 2014 to 2015 (index crimes)

12 Weakening the poor s agency Urban Apartheid: Apartheid has gained a new face owing to the stigma that has now been attached to being drug users or just being suspected or accused of being one. Stigma affects urban poor leaders, organizers, workers Community kinship as casualty

15 Police claimed that it was dark when the incident happened. They failed to notice the child was riding along with her father. Althea Barbon,4 years old

17-year old girl and friend, killed by motorcycle riding men in October 2016 31 childrend

16 17-year old girl and friend, killed by motorcycle riding men in October childrend have been killed (Children's Legal Rights and Development Center as reported by news.abs-cbn.com)

NSO-NCR at A. Maceda Integrated School. NSO-NCR celebrates

NSO-NCR at A. Maceda Integrated School. NSO-NCR celebrates Link The Official Newsletter of the National Statistics Office - National Capital Region Volume IX Issue 2 April to June 2011 Regional Office staff pose at the monument of Dr. Jose Rizal NSO-NCR celebrates