How to Help in the War Effort

By Dean Francis Alfar

1. Start with a young man with all his life ahead of him. If you cannot find one, you can make do with any poor boy. They are all the same, no one will mind.

2. Accuse him of using drugs, or pushing drugs, or couriering drugs, or being around drugs, or being around someone who uses or pushes or couriers or is around drugs, such as his father or uncle or neighbor or friend. The poor are all the same, no one will mind.

3. Do not listen when he protests his innocence. Criminals are all the same, no one will mind.

4. Ignore his ridiculous excuses as he claims examinations on the following day. Alibis are all the same, no one will mind.

5. Do not forget to flash your badge, that is your authority, which cascades from above, in a chain of command that goes all the way to sky. His words are your words, no one will mind.

6. Grab him, beat him. All addicts deserve the same, no one will mind.

7. Beat him. Hurt him. Make him cry. They all sound the same when they are being broken, no one will mind.

8. Mind your form, in case there are CCTVs around. These only record what is true, no one will mind.

9. Gift him a gun. It is only proper since he must have left his behind, at home or where all thoughtless Grade 11 students leave theirs. Young people are all the same, no one will mind.

10. Tell him to run then shoot three times. The dead are all the same, no one will mind.

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The Kill List Chronicles

Written by

The new protest literature in the time of Duterte. Because according to Umberto Eco, “To survive, we must tell stories.”

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