The documentary “On the President’s Orders” opens with a clip of President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines saying in 2016 that he would be “happy to slaughter” the country’s drug addicts. He approvingly compares taking that action to Hitler’s genocide of Jews.

A title card tells us that a year later, Duterte, bowing to outside pressure, promised to cut down on extrajudicial killings of suspected drug users, actions that human rights groups have attributed to police and vigilantes.

Enter Jemar Modequillo , a new police chief said to have been brought in to change the situation in Caloocan , a district of Manila that the film identifies as the epicenter of violence. His goal, a captain in his unit tells us, is to decrease killings and increase arrests.