Donald Trump is a big fan of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. After all, Duterte is a murderous, foulmouthed autocrat. The fact that he’s launched vile insults at both Chelsea Clinton and Barack Obama is just a bonus. Trump would have loved him anyway.
Trump has invited Duterte to come to the White House and even consulted with him on how to handle North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un. Perhaps they can use their visit to discuss the proper way to cover up mass killings.
An analysis of crime data from two of Metro Manila’s five police districts and interviews with doctors, law enforcement officials and victims’ families point to one answer: Police were sending corpses to hospitals to destroy evidence at crime scenes and hide the fact that they were executing drug suspects.
Although it’s known that thousands have died under Duerte as both police and vigilante mobs have been killing people suspected of being involved with drugs with impunity, the existing numbers are substantially below the actual totals.
The Manila commander said police depended on emergency room doctors being too focused on the patients to care about why they were shot. The doctors “aren't asking any questions. They only record it: DOA,” he said.
Shipping off corpses by ambulance has many advantages. It lets police cover up both the numbers killed, and lets them send bodies far away from anyone who might be asking questions.
Police in the Philippines often claim that suspects were “wounded” while fleeing from police or during exchanges of gunfire. Except that’s not what doctors are finding when ambulances arrive.
Five doctors told Reuters they were troubled by the rising number of police-related DOAs. Four said many drug suspects brought to hospital had been shot in the head and heart, sometimes at close range – precise and unsurvivable wounds that undermined police claims that suspects were injured during chaotic exchanges of gunfire.
Thousands of bodies shipped around to cover up the true scope and nature of the ongoing wave of executions. It’s definitely a tip Trump will want to keep in mind.
President Trump praised President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines in a phone call last month for doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem” in the island nation where the government has sanctioned gunning down suspects in the streets.