Though Santo Niño has declined in social standing over the years, it remains a lively, friendly and tight-knit community.

But like many poorer neighborhoods in Manila, it has felt the impact of illegal drugs, especially since Duterte took office.

“Boy,” a drug user who asked CNN to withhold his real name, says the feeling when you’re hooked is hard to explain. “It runs through the veins. It becomes a habit. The body just craves it.”

Boy spent three months in jail on a drug charge before Duterte came to office. These days, the stakes are much higher.

The neighborhood, which is a little over half a square kilometer in size, has seen at least six drug-related killings since the war on drugs began, according to barangay secretary Rey Legaspi. However, residents claim the number is higher.

Legaspi knows the Mañosca family. He says he “scolded” Domingo for his drug use, and tried to get him to go straight. He also knew Francisco and says killings like his have left many spooked.

“A lot of (residents) are afraid,” Legaspi says. “They are afraid that innocent civilians who are living in the community will get hit.”

For the sake of safety in his barangay, Legaspi says he’s satisfied the crackdown is working. But he’s “frustrated” that the extrajudicial killings aren’t being “resolved.”

Legaspi plays his part as an administrator, leading nightly patrols of volunteers around the neighborhood. He stops residents from drinking on the street and would police visible drug use if he still saw it.

Even though his own friends have died as a direct result of the anti-drug campaign, Legaspi says he trusts Duterte’s big picture.

Is Legaspi himself afraid? No, he says. “Because I’m not doing anything wrong.”

But neither was Francisco Mañosca.