Students of the University of the Philippines in Cebu will hold a rally at their school grounds late Friday afternoon to condemn the still unresolved drug killings in the country.
Winona Colina, a UP Cebu students protest organizer, said they no longer understand why people are being killed in line with the war on illegal drugs by the Duterte administration.
She said the spate of killings is also making students start to fear for their own safety. PNP Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said they are now investigating 899 deaths recorded from July 1 to August 15.
The regional Commission on Human Rights (CHR-7) recorded 132 drug-related killings since May 2016.
Colina said in a press statement sent to Cebu Daily News on Thursday that she also had her personnel experience of the violence happening under the Duterte administration.
She said she was headed home at 7 pm last August 12 when a jeepney passenger was gunned down by a still unidentified suspect. She said the attack placed the safety of jeepney passengers at risk.
“It was (a) very traumatic (experience). It was a time when students go home, anyone could have been shot on that street.” Colina said.
“Like it was nothing, the (gun) man shot the passenger inside the jeepney full of passengers and sped away,” she added.
Colina said they are asking the Duterte administration to end the rampant drug-related killings.