More than a hundred Filipino artists are urging President Rodrigo Duterte to stop the government’s bloody war on illegal drugs as they denounced the recent drug-related killings in the country, especially of the “the innocent and young.”
“We, Filipino cultural workers, condemn the killings wrought by the war on drugs, especially of the innocent, the young, and those caught in the crossfire,” they said in a statement released on Sunday.
“We denounce the normalization of these killings, the pardon of rogue police and military men, and the abetting of authorities’ abuse against citizens,” they added.
The statement was signed by 168 cultural workers, among them were writers Ricky Lee and Lourd de Veyra, filmmakers Lav Diaz and Jun Lana, actors Angeli Bayani and Cherry Pie Picache, director Quark Henares, and musician Ebe Dancel.
While the government is waging war against illegal drugs, the group noted its “silence” on the issue of the P6.4-billion worth smuggled shabu from
China that allegedly slipped past the Bureau of Customs.
The artists then called for an end to Duterte’s drug war, and demanded justice for the “thousands dead” in police operations and the “thousands more in summary executions.”