CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — A decade after former President Rodrigo Duterte launched his bloody drug war, institutional watchdogs and Mindanao leaders warn that extrajudicial killings (EJKs) are quietly persisting under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The campaign began in 2016 under the banner of “Oplan Tokhang,” a name created from the Visayan words for “knock” (toktok) and “plead” (hangyo) to describe the operations launched at the start of Duterte’s presidency.
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In an interview, Iglesia Filipina Independiente Bishop Felixberto Calang told the Inquirer that the continuing climate of impunity and fear remained in the communities which, according to him, is a direct reflection of the government’s failure to hold the perpetrators of the drug war accountable.
“When former President Rodrigo Duterte was hauled off to The Hague, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. should have put an end immediately to the extrajudicial killings under the pretext of the war on drugs,” Calang said.
