Since his election, President Rodrigo Duerte’s war on drugs has claimed the lives of almost 4,500 people in just three months. It has dominated news headlines in the Philippines and dramatically altered the dynamics of life in cities like Manila.
Dondi Tawatao, a feature photographer from Manila, has spent the past three months documenting that chaos that has arisen from Duterte’s hardline policies. In the latest episode of VICE News Tonight, a documentary crew accompanies him throughout the night as he covers the numerous victims of street shootings and police crackdowns.
His demeanor and tone throughout the piece make clear the moral struggle that accompanies this project. “I’m not really looking forward to another fatality,” he says at one point, ”But it is what it is. ”
Although he doesn’t expressly say so, it appears clear that Tawatao is troubled by the policies implemented by the president and is using photography to ensure that the world doesn’t miss what is happening. “I’m nowhere near finished,” he points out toward the end of the piece. “This could go on forever… you know?”
Shooting with a camera rather than a gun, Tawatao is fighting this war the best way he knows how, and we applaud him for it.
. digitalrev.com2016-10-27 03:00