♪ ♪
>> NARRATOR: Tonight...
>> The Philippine leader
has faced harsh criticism
for launching a bloody drug war.
>> NARRATOR: The film
that has been hailed
a "street level investigation of
Duterte's murderous campaign
in action."
(screaming)
A testament to a dark age
of cruelty...
(laughing)
"...apocalyptically real."
And "so electrifying viewers
will have to remind themselves
this is happening now."
"On the President's Orders,"
a "Frontline" special
presentation.
♪ ♪
>> Tonight's program contains
graphic imagery.
Viewer discretion is advised.
>> Hitler massacred
three million Jews.
Now there is three million
drug addicts.
I'd be happy to slaughter them.
(gun fires)
>> Another night,
another killing
in the Philippine government's
war on drugs.
>> All of this openly encouraged
by President Duterte
in what has become open season
for anyone
suspected of being tied to
drugs.
>> His orders to his people
and his police: "Kill them."
>> At least if Germany
had Hitler,
the Philippines would have had,
you know, me.
>> Vigilante-style killings.
Many suspect police involvement.
>> President Duterte is
delivering with a vengeance
on his promises: mass
extra-judicial killings.
>> My campaign against drugs
will not stop
until the last pusher and the
last drug lord are...
(mimics throat slicing)
(cheers and applause)
(crowd chanting "Duterte!")
(yelling in Filipino language)
>> The public has been largely
supportive
of Duterte's ruthless methods,
but that may finally be
changing.
OCTAVIO DEIMOS (speaking
Filipino language):
(sirens wailing)
(man calling to attention)
(applauding)
>> Please take a seat.
>> We really want change.
We want to make a difference,
my dear friends.
We want to make the future
of Caloocan
the home of the discipline.
(man calling to attention)
>> It's very important to win
the hearts and minds
of the people.
We do not want to kill.
No.
If we can resolve things without
having death penalty,
then why not?
Okay, showtime.
Are you ready?
>> Ready, sir.
>> Fire one round and holster.
And remember, gentlemen--
(speaking Filipino language)
Ready, up!
(guns firing)
Hold fire!
(bleep) damn it.
(speaking Filipino language)
Holster.
(speaking Filipino language)
You do not know how to...
(speaking Filipino language)
Son of a gun.
Do you understand one round?
Do you understand one round!?
>> Yes, sir.
>> "Yes, sir, yes, sir."
(speaking Filipino language)
What is important in this kind
of training is your discipline.
(exhales)
(gun cocking and firing)
(speaking Filipino language)
In order for you to earn
respect, you need two things.
They are afraid of me or they
like me.
Those two things only.
(laughs)
30 push-ups.
(speaking Filipino language)
>> Two, three, four, five...
>> (speaking Filipino language)
>> Seven, eight, nine, ten...
>> The Philippine leader has
faced harsh criticism
for launching a bloody drug
war in his country
over the past year.
Thousands of people have been
killed...
>> Reports of over 5,000
drug-related deaths.
The poor have been mostly
affected by the campaign.
>> ...President Rodrigo Duterte.
They say his so-called war
on drugs is a class war--
a war against the poor.
AXEL MARTINEZ
(speaking Filipino language):
(people talking, laughing)
MARTINEZ:
(all conversing)
>> One, two, three.
(laughing)
MARTINEZ:
(all chatting, laughing)
MARTINEZ:
(people talking in distance)
MARTINEZ:
♪ ♪
>> (singing)
MARTINEZ:
(sirens wailing)
DEIMOS:
MARTINEZ:
>> The police have faced
mounting criticism
and accusations of rampant
corruption
and human rights abuses.
Now there's a major shift
in the campaign.
WILL CABRALES
(speaking Filipino language):
JAKE:
>> Oh.
(flicks lighter)
(horns honking in distance)
JAKE:
>> Oh.
JAKE:
CABRALES:
JAKE:
♪ ♪
CABRALES:
(dry-fires)
(vehicle engines puttering)
MODEQUILLO:
♪ ♪
(dogs barking, howling)
(woman shouting)
WOMAN:
OFFICER:
OFFICER:
AUSSA:
WOMAN:
AUSSA:
WOMAN (screams):
OFFICER:
WOMAN (shouting):
OFFICER:
WOMAN:
AUSSA:
WOMAN:
AUSSA:
WOMAN (shouting):
OFFICER:
WOMAN:
>> What's this?
So many paraphenalias.
So many, so many.
What's this?
>> Jimmy?
>> Oh, what's that?
WOMAN:
OFFICERS:
(moaning, crying)
WOMAN (crying):
OFFICER:
CABRALES:
WOMAN:
(crying)
OFFICER:
(dog barking)
AUSSA:
OFFICER:
WOMAN:
♪ ♪
(barking continues)
MODEQUILLO:
AUSSA:
MODEQUILLO:
(car horn honks)
♪ ♪
JAKE:
(ringing)
I saw him with less than
ten grams of marijuana.
(people talking in background)
(cell door clangs shut)
JAKE (in Filipino language):
(Adolfo Agustin singing)
♪ And you know sometimes
I'd rather be... ♪
(continues singing)
(hair clippers buzzing)
♪ Too much love will give you ♪
(continues singing)
MAN:
AGUSTIN:
(baton clattering on bars)
(man groans)
(baton clattering on bars)
AGUSTIN:
(man groans)
AGUSTIN:
(engines revving)
(people talking)
ORLY FERNANDEZ:
(vehicle engine chugging)
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
>> Remember that the drug
situation
is still very, very alive
and vicious.
(bird squawking)
(child shouting)
>> When I became president,
I said,
"Do not destroy the Philippines.
Do not do drugs and kill our
children,
because I will kill you."
So what is wrong with that?
(children shouting playfully)
♪ ♪
MODEQUILLO:
Now the president is very eager
with regard to his drive against
drug, drug war.
MAN:
>> If you want to be a good
leader...
MAN:
>> You must be a good follower.
The approach of the president,
there were a lot of, you know,
comments that it's somewhat
harsh.
But, you know, we do sometimes
need to have a strong hand also.
Because drugs is the,
the evil of all the evils.
♪ ♪
(Filipino national anthem
playing on loudspeakers)
DEIMOS:
(people talking in background)
DEIMOS:
(laughing)
MODEQUILLO:
DEIMOS (chuckling):
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
(TV playing in distance)
MAN (on TV):
(TV audio fades)
(Fernandez calls dog)
MAN (on TV):
(bird twittering)
LOREMIE SEVILLA:
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
>> Police, just do your duty.
Just follow my instructions
and you do not have anything
to worry.
I will protect you.
Murder and homicide or whatever,
unlawful killing,
is not allowed.
Your duty requires you
to overcome the resistance
of the person you are arresting.
If he resists,
and it is a violent one,
placing in jeopardy the lives
of my policemen,
you are free to kill the idiots.
That is my order to you.
OFFICER:
>> This one!
REPORTER:
MAN:
>> How many suspects, sir?
MAN:
REPORTER:
♪ ♪
(dog barking)
(horn honks)
FUJI:
MARTINEZ:
FUJI:
MARTINEZ:
DEIMOS:
(dog barking)
BOY:
DEIMOS:
BOY:
DEIMOS:
(thunder rumbling)
Drug dealers, drug users,
the problem of the nation.
(thunder rumbling)
Those are usually the victims
of the shooting.
>> (murmurs)
>> Lots of the shootings seem
very professional.
>> Yes.
>> You can understand why people
might think it was the police.
>> Yes, the people might think
that it was a...
or it was done by some
police officers,
but actually, it was not.
The police kill
when they fight back.
(chuckles)
If the police do it, it will...
It is, uh...
It is legitimate, because we
the police are law enforcers,
so what we are just doing is to
enforce the law.
President Duterte
really hates drugs.
A drug addict or drug pusher,
that kind of person has no place
already here.
That's their choice.
They don't want to live anymore.
They want to live in hell
already.
(chuckles)
They choose to transfer,
to reassign in hell.
I heard that most of the
shooting incidents here
in the south was in the way
of what you have said.
>> It was the police?
>> Some said about that.
>> That the police were doing
the shootings?
>> Yes.
>> Other police officers said
that?
>> Yes, other police officers.
♪ ♪
(people talking in background)
MODEQUILLO:
(cheering and applauding)
>> These drug dealers
know fully well
the consequences
of their criminal acts.
The war against illegal drugs
is far from over.
>> Almost every day, dead bodies
are being recovered
from the streets in Manila;
on this occasion,
a tricycle taxi driver
who was shot in the head.
(tattoo needle buzzing)
(buzzing stops)
(buzzing resumes)
(buzzing stops)
MARTINEZ:
(buzzing resumes)
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
FERNANDEZ:
MARTINEZ:
FUJI:
>> President Duterte!
You consciously and deliberately
put in place
a permission structure
for mass murder.
And in due time, you will be
held accountable
for the thousands of
extra-judicial killings
in the Philippines.
(crowd cheers)
(speaking Filipino language)
CAJIPE:
>> Huh?
CAJIPE:
MODEQUILLO:
>> Those shootings, they seem
quite professional.
Can you understand why people
think it's maybe police
or connected to police?
>> Uh, you know,
there are a lot of people,
they are thinking that police
are involved with that.
But no, we are...
we're not after
for the life of these people.
In Caloocan,
we have 1,000 police there.
I cannot see all of them.
There is always a black sheep.
>> And some of the police
in Caloocan told us
that some of those shootings
were done by police.
Are those just black sheep
or do you think that comes from
above?
>> I do not know, because,
you know, sometimes,
there are incidents that are
still under investigation.
All the killings
or all the incidents
that is happening actually is...
are all under investigation.
(people talking in background)
>> Was that something that you
had heard,
that maybe it was police
from the district
who had carried out
those shootings?
>> Um, I do not...
I do not know.
I do not have any comment
for that.
Um, but what is important is,
the investigation is rolling.
♪ ♪
(birds chirping)
>> "Shootings get Caloocan top
cop fired.
Relief prompted by series
of unsolved incidents in city.
More than six months after he
promised to keep Caloocan city
less bloody, Senior
Superintendent Jemar Modequillo
was fired from his post
effective on Monday
for failing to solve over half
of shootings
which happened
during his watch."
♪ ♪
>> Our Lord make a lot of
sacrifices to save people.
So we are not actually God.
No one is perfect
and we are all sinners.
We have sometimes to repent.
But it's somewhat
like unfair to me.
Being a good soldier,
we must be a good follower.
We have to follow.
We have to follow.
(women singing)
(siren wailing in distance)
(police radio beeps)
♪ ♪
(vehicle engine puttering)
(siren wailing in distance)
>> What are your sins?
(hair clippers buzzing)
The drugs war will not be
sidelined.
(clippers buzzing)
Instead, it will be as
relentless and chilling...
(clippers buzzing)
(clippers click off)
...as on the day it began.
(Martinez expels breath)
>> Go to pbs.org/frontline
for more on the origins
of the drug war
in the Philippines.
>> Until the last pusher
and the last drug lord are...
(throat cutting sound)
>> And the activists trying
to reform
drug-related policies and laws.
(shouting)
Connect to the "Frontline"
community
on Facebook and Twitter,
and watch anytime
on the PBS Video App
or pbs.org/frontline.
>> I will nominate Judge Brett
Kavanaugh...
>> NARRATOR: A Supreme Court
face-off 30 years in the making.
>> You will see a system
that has become toxic.
>> When Bork got taken down,
they promised never to forgive.
>> It was raw politics
and it was war.
>> Mitch McConnell
is a tactical genius.
>> We're not giving a lifetime
appointment
to this president
on the way out the door.
>> Unprecedented.
>> Democrats are outraged.
>> We're living in the era of
the McConnell Court now.
♪ ♪
>> For more on this and other
"Frontline" programs,
visit our website
at pbs.org/frontline.
♪ ♪
To order "Frontline's"
"On the President's Orders"
on DVD, visit ShopPBS
or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
This program is also available
on Amazon Prime Video.
♪ ♪
