{"id":21610,"date":"2024-02-04T15:56:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T01:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=21610"},"modified":"2024-02-04T15:56:35","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T01:56:35","slug":"book-review-some-people-need-killing-a-memoir-of-murder-in-my-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2024\/02\/04\/book-review-some-people-need-killing-a-memoir-of-murder-in-my-country\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW: SOME PEOPLE NEED KILLING\u2014A Memoir of Murder in my Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Rose Cruz Churma

<\/em>Rodrigo Duterte took office as President of the Republic of the Philippines in 2016. The former president generally speaks extemporaneously, unwilling to read from prepared remarks. \u00a0

At the beginning of the book one of his quotes is inscribed: \u201cWhat I want to do is instill fear\u201d when he was still the mayor of Davao, a city in southern Philippines.

In one speech, he promises to \u201ckill people\u201d and uses the word \u201ckill\u201d in his speeches 1,254 times\u2014based on the database of transcripts from his speeches from June 2016 to June 2017 \u2014 in just a year.\u00a0The total number during his presidency is likely higher.

From the beginning of the Duterte era, it became the author\u2019s role to document the people killed in this supposed war on drugs.\u00a0She was a field correspondent for\u00a0Rappler<\/em>, the online newspaper founded by Nobel Peace Prize awardee Maria Ressa.

She was one of the reporters covering the results of Duterte\u2019s pledge to \u201cdestroy anyone\u2014without charge or trial\u2014whom he or the police or any of a number of vigilantes suspected of taking or selling drugs.\u201d

The author describes it best when she says, \u201cThis is a book about the dead and the people who are left behind.\u201d

But it is also her personal story written in her own voice as she struggled through her fears and the paranoia she developed from covering these EJKs (extra-judicial killings), and a presidency that condoned\u2014even encouraged\u2014state-sanctioned massacres.

The last sentence in the book\u2019s prologue haunted me when she wrote\u2014\u201c\u2026I am a citizen of a nation I cannot recognize as my own.\u00a0The thousands who died were killed with the permission of my people. I am writing this book because I refuse to offer mine.\u201d

It is so difficult to wrap around my head the fact that despite these acts of brutality especially to the most vulnerable, Duterte\u2019s popularity remained high, catapulting his daughter and political heir to the second-highest office of the nation.

This book is a memoir as well as a report of what happened in the past.\u00a0It tries to explain the origins of autocratic rule and Filipinos’ preference for leaders with a \u201cstrong-man\u201d persona. In reading the book, one can gauge the cynicism of the voters, and the opportunism of the politicians that rule them.

The subject matter is dark and depressing.\u00a0I had to stop so many times just to process objectively what I was reading. As you read it you wonder, is this my country of birth? What have we devolved into?

Her writing style\u2014short, clear sentences describe in searing detail the poverty, corruption and cruelty of those in power.\u00a0It is able to capture the killings and their aftermath in a very matter-of-fact way, but the rage is there, lurking among the commas and translations of new words coined during this era: \u201csalvage,\u201d \u201cneutralize,\u201d \u201cencounter,\u201d\u2014the more euphemistic synonym for \u201ckill.\u201d

The author, Patricia Evangelista, is a trauma journalist and former investigative reporter for\u00a0Rappler<\/em>. Her work has earned a number of local and international accolades, especially for her reporting on the aftermath of super typhoon Haiyan and Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s drug war.

She first gained international attention when she won the 2004 Best Speaker award in the International Public Speaking Competition conducted by the English-Speaking Union (ESU) in London. At that time, she was an eighteen-year-old college student. The title of her piece was \u201cBlonde and Blue Eyes, The Filipino Diaspora.\u201d

She received her high school diploma from St. Theresa\u2019s College in Quezon City before enrolling in UP Diliman\u2019s College of Mass Communication.

She was first published as a youth columnist by\u00a0The Philippine Star.\u00a0<\/em>She had her start in television journalism as a production assistant for ABS-CBN\u00a0and went on to produce a number of programs and documentaries, including the groundbreaking narrative series,\u00a0Storyline<\/em>.

In October 2023, her first\u00a0book was published, Some People Need Killing, <\/em>which The New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0calls a\u00a0journalistic masterpiece.

This book is worth reading\u2014if at all to make us think\u2014but also act: what can we do to ensure\u00a0that state-sanctioned killings never happen again?

Get the latest stories from Hawaii Filipino Chronicle straight to your inbox! Subscribe to <\/em>our FREE newsletter here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>

ROSE CRUZ CHURMA\u00a0<\/strong>established\u00a0Kalamansi Books & Things\u00a0three decades ago. It has\u00a0evolved from a mail-order bookstore into an online advocacy with the intent of helping global Pinoys discover their heritage by promoting books of value from the\u00a0Philippines\u00a0and those\u00a0written by Filipinos in the Diaspora. We can be reached at\u00a0<\/em>kalamansibooks@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rose Cruz Churma Rodrigo Duterte took office as President of the Republic of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?fit=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?fit=201%2C300&ssl=1",201,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?fit=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,true],"large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?fit=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?fit=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?fit=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=460%2C570&ssl=1",460,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=460%2C600&ssl=1",460,600,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=460%2C500&ssl=1",460,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?fit=460%2C687&ssl=1",460,687,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=412%2C340&ssl=1",412,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?resize=256%2C250&ssl=1",256,250,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Features<\/a> Philippines<\/a>","tag_info":"Philippines","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/BR_Some-need-Killing_02042024.jpg?fit=460%2C687&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21611,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21610\/revisions\/21611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}