Stop the Killings.

“Makibaka! Huwag matakot! (Struggle! Do not be afraid!)” The phrase resounded throughout all of Manila as the cry of the Filipino people protested President Rodrigo Duterte’s reign of terror. Within the last four years alone, President Duterte has single handedly transformed Philippine democracy to a Philippine dictatorship, bringing forth a state of instability where his own rhetoric is sovereign. With this in mind, his primary foundation of winning office in the first place came to the ideas of cleaning up corruption, streets, and most importantly, drugs. While many Filipinos thought this would allow for true change to happen, it instead resulted in a bloodbath of instability and killings. On the first day of office, President Duterte launched his platform of “War on Drugs.” Since then, Duterte has overseen and led a bloody war against drug trafficking, killing thousands of innocent people, dozens of which are children. While these victims are only seen as “collateral damage” to President Duterte and the Philippine National Police, the Filipino people have taken it upon themselves to act against this unjust tyranny. Thus, within the past years, a group named Karapatan Alliance Philippines, rose to stand for Filipino people and the safety of families, and against Duterte’s dictatorship and the unjust killings. Karapatan, which translates to “rights,” is a left-wing non-governmental organization and human rights advocate. They conduct research and advocacy towards human rights campaigns, specifically monitoring and documenting the human rights violations in the Philippines. They began and organized marches to this day, with signs saying “STOP THE KILLINGS,” and “END IMPUNITY!” With their hard work, they have drawn attention to human rights violations in the Philippines on a global stage. Through education campaigns, legal services to victims, and lobbying efforts within the Philippines, the process of dismantling President Duterte’s regime is well underway. Currently, they have been engaging with the United Nations and the Human Rights Watch in order to understand and bring an end to this violent war. While murderers of innocent people walk without repercussion, thousands of families are left grieving innocent lives. While there is a current spotlight to these violations on the Philippines, the desperate efforts made by the Filipino people to dismantle this corrupt justice system have proven itself to begin true change, but the question is will global efforts make the Philippine’s political and social states more unstable, or will it finally in-act true change among the Philippines?