Warning: Some images may be graphic
Tokhang from eyeswideopen on Vimeo.
A blood-stained Barbie doll in a zip-lock bag. A body slumped on a sidewalk. Prison cells crammed with drug offenders.
These are just some of the images included in the compelling photo slide show “Tokhang,” which has been making rounds on social media.
The chilling images, paired with short videos of relatives mourning and haunting background music, are from several photojournalists covering the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
The photographers, who are affiliated with different news organizations, work at night to document the bodies recovered from police shootouts and vigilante killings. They also cover funerals and mass surrender of drug users.
A brief background on the issue is included in the video. It states President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign promise to rid the country of the drug trade by killing up to 1000,000 people involved in illegal drugs within six months.
“For decades, the Philippines has been plagued by poverty, rampant corruption, and stark inequality. Experts believe that the drug problem is just the symptom to more fundamental problems,” the video says.
It enumerates the results of the drug war—more than 5,000 people killed and 700,000 surrendering to authorities because they fear that they will be assassinated next. However, some of those who surrendered ended up dead as well.
“Almost all of [those killed] were small-time drug peddlers and users, and mostly citizens who live below the poverty line,” the video states.
“Tokhang” is a term that comes from the Visayan phrase “Tok-tok Hangyo,” which has been used to refer to police knocking on doors of illegal drug suspects and asking them to surrender.
Photographers who contributed to the video are Alyx Arumpac, Dante Dionisia, Ezra Acayan, Linus Escandor, Carlo Gabuco, Jay Ganzon, Vincent Go, Czar Dancel, Raffy Lerma, Alecs Ongcal, Hannah Reyes, Dondi Tawatao. It was edited by Jes Aznar who is also a local photojournalist.
Total silence
Aznar told INQUIRER.net over the phone that he presented the video at the Angkor Photo Festival in Cambodia earlier this month.
The venue was full and many of the participants looked forward to seeing the images of Tokhang from the Philippines, he said.
Asked how the audience reacted to the video, he said there was “total silence.”
Aznar said he wanted to share with his fellow photographers images from “the most important issue in the Philippines” right now.
“We were all bothered by what’s happening and on our part we are not able to have all our pictures published. The people need to see this, the public needs to see this,” he said.
Aznar said that while photojournalists should not be political, it is their job to show the people what is really happening.
“Of course this is also a matter of life. It’s a simple ethical question… As a human being you should have a stand on that—that it is wrong if there is no due process,” he said.
“There are still a lot of people who are cynical, skeptic (and will say), ‘That is not true. That is staged,’” he said, referring to images of people killed in police shootouts and by unidentified gunmen.
So it came to a point when his fellow nightshift photojournalists wanted to bring members of the public with them.
“They need to take this seriously. We wanted to invite people with us so they can see the police operations every night. They can stay as long as they want until they are satisfied,” Aznar said.
“So we’re just doing our job. And as a human being, we’re doing our part para at least mapa-realize yung mga tao na parang may mali (to make people realize that there might be something wrong here),” he said. RAM
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