Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Raffy Lerma gave online viewers a peek into the life of a nightshift photojournalist in BBC’s recent video feature on the Duterte administration’s drug war.
Lerma, who has been documenting vigilante killings and police shootouts at night, said it was “rough” during the first two months as he was exposed to dead bodies and crime scenes.
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“Mondays are the worst. Calls came in around 11 p.m. and did not stop until 4 a.m.,” he said in the 4-minute video.
The photojournalist, who captured the viral “Pieta” photograph of a woman cradling the body of her dead husband, said that while he is “for the drug war,” he does not support the killings.
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Despite feeling bad about documenting such crimes, he said it was necessary so that the bodies would not be reduced to mere statistics.
“If I can help solve this problem…through photos…I have to do my job,” he said.
The government’s war on drugs has resulted in the killings of thousands of people, some from police shootouts or extrajudicial killings. KS/IDL/rga
