Unidentified gunmen carry out murders on city streets

JUST IN: 3 patay sa buy bust operation sa ilalim ng Jones Bridge sa Binondo, Maynila @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/oIUEs0LfrH — Bianca Dava (@biancadava) December 5, 2016

Basurero, patay nang pagbabarilin ng 2 riding in tandem sa Brgy 107, Pasay City @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/kpR5PtudYK — Bianca Dava (@biancadava) December 4, 2016

Hinihinalang tulak, patay nang manlaban umano sa buy bust operation sa Brgy Bulihan, Malolos, Bulacan @ABSCBNNews @DZMMTeleRadyo pic.twitter.com/UuZdhhFkpo — Bianca Dava (@biancadava) November 30, 2016

In the grainy, black and white CCTV footage, two scooters approach a group of people sitting on the street. One of the riders on the first scooter takes out a gun and shoots. They then ride away, with a second gunman shooting those who flee.This kind of scene has become common in the Philippines, as President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has snowballed into a violent crackdown that leaves bodies in the streets to be discovered the next day.Duterte was sworn in as president on June 30, promising to rid the Philippines of crime and drugs. An estimated 5,869 people have been killed since he took office, and the slaughter shows no sign of abating.In a speech to reporters in September, Duterte apparently referred to himself as the Philippines’ equivalent of Adolf Hitler, and said, “There are 3 million drug addicts [in the Philippines]. I'd be happy to slaughter them.” The most recent figures available from the Dangerous Drugs Board indicate that there are around 1.8 million drug users in the Philippines.Police operations to root out the criminal underworld of drugs often end in a death. The authorities usually say that the drug raid ended in a shootout, leaving officers no option but to shoot to kill in self-defence. A report from Reuters found a 97 percent kill ratio in police shootings.There are other factions taking part in the killing spree. Vigilante groups are roaming cities and murdering people suspected of taking, dealing or pushing drugs. Drive-by shootings from the backs of scooters are so common, the act has earned itself a name in the local shorthand: “riding in tandem”. It is unclear whether these vigilante groups are working with police or have simply taken Duterte’s call to wipe out the scourge of drugs to heart and are taking matters into their own hands.Phelim Kine, the deputy director of Asia at Human Rights Watch, calls the situation unfolding in the country “an utter human rights catastrophe”. He points to a growing body of evidence that suggests that the Philippine National Police are responsible for some portion of the killings by vigilante gunmen. “It may also signal the emergence of death squads operating with the passive or active complicity of elements of local government and police in targeting suspected drug users and drug dealers,” says Kine. Data released by the Philippine National Police has 3,841 victims of extrajudicial or vigilante killings recorded for the period between July 1 and November 30 this year.Our Observer Marcy Venezuela is a businesswoman based in Manila, the country’s capital. She says that the violence has now become normalised.