Last week, as the bodies of alleged drug dealers piled up on the streets of the Philippines, the nation’s leading churchman finally broke his silence. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Archbishop of Manila and a leading papabile, gave a radio interview in which he criticised the murders, alongside other forms of killing such as abortion.
No one who has followed Filipino politics is surprised that President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has become so deadly so quickly. Duterte had promised to kill 100,000 criminals during his first six months as president, dropping their bodies in Manila Bay until “the fish will grow fat”. He is well on the way to keeping that promise – and it seems no one can stop him.
