DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 03 May) – The Philippine Book Tour of journalist Patricia Evangelista’s “Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country” began in Payatas, Quezon City on April 8 where the author reunited with families of the victims of the bloody war on drugs under then President Rodrigo Duterte, and ended on May 1 in this city that gave rise to “The Punisher.”
Evangelista flew in mid-morning of May 1 to this city, where the bloody war on drugs was first waged by then mayor Duterte, who made it to the pages of TIME Magazine as “The Punisher” on July 19, 2002 and on the cover of TIME Magazine Asia on May 23, 2016 as “The Punisher” elected to be President of the Philippines.
Before an audience of around 60, among them Clarita Alia, who lost her four sons to extrajudicial killings between 2001 and 2007 while Duterte was mayor, Evangelista gave no statistical data of that bloody history in the national capital but told stories of Love-Love who saw her father and mother gunned down in their own home at 3 a.m. She shared narratives from other relatives of victims who told her stories about their slain loved ones. And she spoke of “Simon,” a vigilante paid to kill and who cut short the interview because he had “a job to do.”
Evangelista read excerpts from her internationally acclaimed 428-page book, 81 pages of them notes, including a summary of the 13 questions she asked former President Rodrigo Duterte to answer, on the Davao Death Squad and the enforcement of the Philippine Drug war, and whether he considered his war a success. Evangelista had sought an interview with Duterte on May 12, 2023 and was told by his assistant in an e-mail on May 16, to send her questions. She did on May 17. Evangelista received a reply expressing Duterte’s regrets on May 23, citing prior commitments and conflicts in scheduling. She wrote back to say e-mailed responses would be sufficient but she received no reply.
The book has been hailed by The New Yorker as a “journalistic masterpiece,” has been on the must-read book lists of New York Times and other newspapers, and was TIME Magazine’s number 1 non-fiction book of 2023.
On World Press Freedom Day, May 3, 2024, word reached the Philippines from New York that she won the New York Public Library’s 2024 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Not listed
The last stop of her Philippine Book Tour was not listed in Evangelista’s schedule of events.
But the last stop, Davao CIty, dubbed ‘Ground Zero’ for drug-related extrajudicial killings, would have been the first stop after Payatas, the launch here scheduled on April 11. Instead, the first Philippine launch was held at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City on that day.
Organizers in Davao City could not host the event on April 11 because of venue problems. Two universities earlier approached turned down the requests to host the book launch. The question “whatever happened to academic freedom?” went unanswered.
It was timely that World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), held annually on May 3, was coming. It opened a window for a launch in the city through a Book Talk Series that would gather representatives of media, the campus press, academe, law and other sectors.
Evangelista’s book was finally launched afternoon of May 1, during the Book Talk Series of the WPFD Forum, along with Dr. Dennis John Sumaylo’s book, “Engaging Isolated Communities in Disaster Preparation and Communication in the Philippines.” Sumaylo is chair of the Department of Humanities of the University of the Philippines-Mindanao.
Evangelista’s security team had specific instructions that there would be no publicity materials before and during the event and that posting of photos would be done only when Evangelista’s plane had taken off from the Davao International Airport.
Inviting guests to the event was done f2f (face to face), not by phone or chat groups. By phone, one could only ask “are you free afternoon of May 1?” and if the answer was yes, some of those who were doing the inviting would say “I cannot give you the details right now but this is something you will want to attend.”
Slots were limited so the organizing team had to revise the guest list several times, particularly on the last two days when some of those listed said they could not attend. They were immediately replaced by those on the waitlist.
“One for the books”
“Historic to have this in Davao City,” said anthropologist Amiel Lopez.
“Fifty plus people in the city went together to hear and witness a story. A story that is not ours but also ours. A story that needs to be told and to bear witness. Yet somehow, we became desensitized because it became a norm. Clarita. Ivy, Lady Love. Kian. And more of their names. Families killed, even children. ‘A war on drugs, he said. or was it a war against the poor?,” Lopez asked.
Pastor Daniel Pantoja describes the book as “both disheartening and enlightening.”
“What a paradoxical read,” he wrote.” I believe these truths must be told, deep and wide, as the initial action towards our healing as a nation,” he said.
“From her first word, you can feel the strength of conviction as she shared her narratives of those ‘dark’ days in our history. The story of Love and others hit you with such a punch that you just wonder where all of us where during these moements. Gripping, riveting, bold. We need more storytellers who can be as ‘human’ yet full of facts and truth,” said Dr. Rosalina Tomas, chair of the Ateneo de Davao University’s Department of Anthropology.
Multi-awarded writer Ricardo M. de Ungria described the launch as “one for the books.”
“Congratulations for a successful hushhush book launch,” he said.
It was the first time in Davao City where a book was launched with no prior announcement and where invitations were done “hushhush.”
“You got a way and away with ways,” De Ungria added.
Human being
Evangelista was asked if he would leave a book for Duterte. She replied: “I think you have taken care of providing (Duterte) a copy” but “if the (former) President requests one, I would be delighted to give it to him.”
Duterte was gifted a copy of Evangelista’s book in early January by this reporter.
Asked what she would write on the dedication page if she were to give Duterte a copy, Evangelista recalled how in the early days of Duterte’s war on drugs as President, when issues were raised about human rights violations in the killing of suspected drug addicts and dealers, the President said “I’d like to be frank with you: are they humans? What is your definition of a human being?”
“In the course of this book, I tried to define what a human being is. And my definition is very simple. It’s everyone. So I would like to dedicate … to the former President, I would like to tell him, this is what a human being is and I would like to tell him I hope he feels their loss as we all do,” Evangelista said.
Duterte’s son and his ‘war against drugs’
There was a long queue for the book signing that took about an hour. One of those who queued brought a luggage containing 15 books.
A professor whose former student was Duterte’s son, Sebastian, the incumbent mayor, had three books for signing, including one intended for “Mayor Baste” which Evangelista declined to sign
Less than two months ago, on March 22, Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, waged a ‘war against drugs’ during the turnover of command at the Davao City Police Office.
Echoing the war on drugs pronouncements of his father who was mayor of this city for 22 years, the young Duterte warned those involved in illegal drugs to stop or they would be killed.
Hours after he declared his war, the first blood was spilled when an alleged drug pusher was killed in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Communal in Buhangin.
Less than a week after his war declaration, the death toll had reached seven.
Eight police officers were relieved from their posts in connection with the drug-related deaths.
No need for drug war
Davao police director Brig. Gen. Alden Delvo ordered police commanders here to submit evidence that the armed encounters, which led to the death of drug suspects in less than a week, were legitimate.
“Very unusual if every operation nanlaban ‘yung suspect, but it is not impossible. That is why we are investigating it,” Delvo said
The Commission on Human Rights in a statement on March 26 denounced what it called “the alarming incidents of alleged extrajudicial killings associated with the anti-drug campaign in Davao City as these acts constitute grave violations of fundamental human rights, particularly the right to life and due process, and are in direct disregard to the principles of justice and the rule of law.”
The mayor’s father, is presently facing charges at the International Criminal Court in connection with his bloody war on drugs.
In his first press conference on April 3, newly-installed Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil said there was no need to declare a war on drugs for the country to achieve drug-free status.
“There is no need for a drug war. That is part of our job – to stamp out drugs. Hindi lang po ako ang chief PNP na nagsabi niyan” (I am not the only PNP chief who said that), Marbil told reporters.
Please read also Patricia Evangelista’s book launched in Davao City and Gifting Duterte with Pat Evangelista’s “Some People Need Killing” book. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)