MANILA, Philippines—Senator Leila de Lima lashed out at some mayors who, she said, “offered” their constituents to appease President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs that have killed thousands since his presidency started in 2016.
A U.S. study titled “Deadly Populism: How Local Political Outsiders Drive Duterte’s War on Drugs in the Philippines” revealed that independent and minority mayors implemented a more aggressive form of the drug war to curry political support from the administration.
“According to the study, some mayors not only have left their constituents defenseless and without protection but also completely abandoned them at the hands of the Duterte death squads,…
Keep on reading: De Lima: Some mayors ‘offered’ constituents to Duterte’s war vs drugs