‘I looked around and everyone was dead’: life in hiding – Sydney Morning Herald

Speckles of sweat form on his brow.

On December 28, 2016, the sound of a motorcycle parking outside the 19-year-olds girlfriends house roared through music in Caloocan City in Metro Manila, Philippines. Then gunfire.

It was all a blur, next thing I know I realise I got shot on my hip, said Ryan.

Blood gushed from his side and he collapsed. But the bullets kept coming.

I looked around and everyone was dead, he said.

Three of his friends, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old were shot by masked gunmen. His girlfriends brothers pregnant wife, her brother and mother were killed. There were allegations the gunmen were targeting a drug suspect.

Police look at the body of Rolito Nunez at the crime scene in Barangay Old Balara, Quezon City in April, 2017. Credit:Kate Geraghty

They were buried on January 10, 2017 in what is now known as the Caloocan massacre, casualties in Philippines President Rodrigo Dutertes war on drugs.

They have no empathy, to them its like theyre merely killing animals, Ryan says.

Three years after the bloody incident, he is still in hiding.

After his election in June 2016, Duterte launched a hardline campaign against drugs, claiming the Philippines had become a "narco-state". Thousands of people have been killed since, accused of being drug dealers, drug users or both.

President Rodrigo Duterte.Credit:AP

Cruzs friends added to an increasing body count, but the true number is widely disputed.

The Filipino government claimed that as of March 2019, there were 5375 deaths of drug personalities during anti-drug operations.

In June, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Bernard Banac said publicly the number was closer to 6600 killings by police. He said they were killed because they were armed. The casualties have included three-year-old Myca Ulpina, killed in raid targeting her father Renato Dolofrina in June.

Human rights activists light candles in Quezon City for the victims of extra-judicial killings.Credit:AP

According to the PNP, 22,983 deaths were classified as "homicides under investigation" because they were outside "legitimate police operations".

But local media reports the death toll may be up to 29,000, and made allegations of systematic extrajudicial executions and vigilante-style murders fuelled by a culture of impunity.

Police attribute them to drug turf wars and Duterte vehemently denies that police are in cahoots with vigilantes.

Ryan was 19 when he was shot, he was taken to hospital. A few weeks later Rise Up - originally a group of churches which formed in response to the war on drugs - quickly placed him in hiding.

When I first met him, he was nervous. He turned his shirt inside out, worried that people may recognise his clothes when being filmed. Two years later, he is still just as scared.

I am scared that they will hurt me or even kill me, he said.

Shanty dwellers living inside the cemetery look at bodies being buried in Manila, Philippines.Credit:Getty Images

"Ive endured so much for so long. I cant go home anymore. The fear is constant. Whenever I see a cop, I stay away, I avoid them. Were meant to trust them but its the opposite. You cant trust them if they themselves kill.

Rise Up coordinator Deaconess Rubylin Litao couldnt say how many people they were assisting in hiding, but that not everyone who had been impacted by an extra-judicial killing was living undercover.

There are people in different kinds of situations, what we try to do is help people to know what they need to do given their lives are different before they were impacted by the war on drugs, she said.

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We are not encouraging people who have had a family killed to automatically go into hiding, she said.

We believe what is most helpful is when the community can bond together and can support each other.

The dull pain of the shrapnel still haunts him, he tells me through a translator.

The shrapnel of the bullet is still down near my knee. Thats why when it is cold out it still really hurts. I can still feel it, he said.

At night, the shooting floods back to him in vivid detail.

The impact is too much, he said. I still have trouble concentrating on things. I cant focus.

Rise Up helped relocate him, so he no longer lives near his family or friends and his true identity is shielded from his neighbours. Only Rise Up knows who he really is.

He speaks with his father and brother through a messaging service, but it's too dangerous to see them.

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I usually want to be low-profile, especially if I met my brothers, they will be tailed and they will follow me and the threat will be continuous to me, he said.

I am very hesitant and cautious about travelling and thats what affects me.

For me its difficult because I havent done anything wrong, so what am I hiding for?"

Duterte has faced international criticism for his bloody crusade and sparked calls that his actions amount to crimes against humanity.

Ryan believes the main targets in the war on drugs have been petty criminals in crime-prone urban slums.

"Its the poor that he targets. We the poor got him elected, but we can also bring him down. As long as we can, well try to, he said.

The United Nations Human Rights Council is investigating the killings and the International Criminal Court is conducting a preliminary examination of allegations of crimes against humanity, but Duterte vowed to continue his anti-drug until the last day of his presidency in June 2022.

In March, Manila withdrew from the ICC, claiming it was never a part of the tribunal.

Despite the deaths, Duterte remains hugely popular with Filipinos, although according to Pulse Asia survey, his approval rating dropped from 85 per cent in June to 78 per cent in September.

On November 6, Duterte handed the" war on drugs" to his vice-president and former critic Leni Robredo.

Leni Robredo is sworn in as Vice-President in June. She will keep that job - which is elected separately to the presidency - but quit her cabinet post.Credit:AP

If I could save one innocent life, my principles and my heart tell me, that I should try, she said.

But just as quickly as she was given the title, was it stripped.

"They may have taken away my position but they cannot take away my determination to stop the killings, hold the responsible to account and win the campaign against illegal drugs," Robredo said.

A for Ryan, Rise Up is giving him a new chance at life.

The former construction worker missed out on an early education due to his poor upbringing, but he's started attending an alternative learning school and peppers our conversation with English.

*Ryan (not his real name) has been in hiding for almost three years after he was shot in 2016 in Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs continues.Credit:Nicole Precel

We can see the changes in them and were so proud of them, but we also know that the system itself, life itself has not been very fair or caring to many poor families, said Litao.

Ryan is trying to make the best of his life in the shadows. He dreams of one day becoming a teacher or a doctor.

"I'm looking forward to someday... not being in hiding anymore. I just want to make sure that (the people) who killed my friends and what happened to me will be held accountable."

"Life is precious and important to us. So thats why we need to take care of every life," he said.

-with Reuters

Nicole Precel is a video journalist and reporter at The Age. She is also a documentary maker.

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'I looked around and everyone was dead': life in hiding - Sydney Morning Herald