♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Tonight... >> The Philippine leader has faced harsh criticism for launching a bloody drug war.

>> NARRATOR: The film that has been hailed a "street level investigation of Duterte's murderous campaign in action."

(screaming) A testament to a dark age of cruelty... (laughing) "...apocalyptically real."

And "so electrifying viewers will have to remind themselves this is happening now."

"On the President's Orders," a "Frontline" special presentation.

♪ ♪ >> Tonight's program contains graphic imagery.

Viewer discretion is advised.

>> Hitler massacred three million Jews.

Now there is three million drug addicts.

I'd be happy to slaughter them.

(gun fires) >> Another night, another killing in the Philippine government's war on drugs.

>> All of this openly encouraged by President Duterte in what has become open season for anyone suspected of being tied to drugs.

>> His orders to his people and his police: "Kill them."

>> At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have had, you know, me.

>> Vigilante-style killings.

Many suspect police involvement.

>> President Duterte is delivering with a vengeance on his promises: mass extra-judicial killings.

>> My campaign against drugs will not stop until the last pusher and the last drug lord are... (mimics throat slicing) (cheers and applause) (crowd chanting "Duterte!")

(yelling in Filipino language) >> The public has been largely supportive of Duterte's ruthless methods, but that may finally be changing.

OCTAVIO DEIMOS (speaking Filipino language): (sirens wailing) (man calling to attention) (applauding) >> Please take a seat.

>> We really want change.

We want to make a difference, my dear friends.

We want to make the future of Caloocan the home of the discipline.

(man calling to attention) >> It's very important to win the hearts and minds of the people.

We do not want to kill.

No.

If we can resolve things without having death penalty, then why not?

Okay, showtime.

Are you ready?

>> Ready, sir.

>> Fire one round and holster.

And remember, gentlemen-- (speaking Filipino language) Ready, up!

(guns firing) Hold fire!

(bleep) damn it.

(speaking Filipino language) Holster.

(speaking Filipino language) You do not know how to... (speaking Filipino language) Son of a gun.

Do you understand one round?

Do you understand one round!?

>> Yes, sir.

>> "Yes, sir, yes, sir."

(speaking Filipino language) What is important in this kind of training is your discipline.

(exhales) (gun cocking and firing) (speaking Filipino language) In order for you to earn respect, you need two things.

They are afraid of me or they like me.

Those two things only.

(laughs) 30 push-ups.

(speaking Filipino language) >> Two, three, four, five... >> (speaking Filipino language) >> Seven, eight, nine, ten... >> The Philippine leader has faced harsh criticism for launching a bloody drug war in his country over the past year.

Thousands of people have been killed... >> Reports of over 5,000 drug-related deaths.

The poor have been mostly affected by the campaign.

>> ...President Rodrigo Duterte.

They say his so-called war on drugs is a class war-- a war against the poor.

AXEL MARTINEZ (speaking Filipino language): (people talking, laughing) MARTINEZ: (all conversing) >> One, two, three.

(laughing) MARTINEZ: (all chatting, laughing) MARTINEZ: (people talking in distance) MARTINEZ: ♪ ♪ >> (singing) MARTINEZ: (sirens wailing) DEIMOS: MARTINEZ: >> The police have faced mounting criticism and accusations of rampant corruption and human rights abuses.

Now there's a major shift in the campaign.

WILL CABRALES (speaking Filipino language): JAKE: >> Oh.

(flicks lighter) (horns honking in distance) JAKE: >> Oh.

JAKE: CABRALES: JAKE: ♪ ♪ CABRALES: (dry-fires) (vehicle engines puttering) MODEQUILLO: ♪ ♪ (dogs barking, howling) (woman shouting) WOMAN: OFFICER: OFFICER: AUSSA: WOMAN: AUSSA: WOMAN (screams): OFFICER: WOMAN (shouting): OFFICER: WOMAN: AUSSA: WOMAN: AUSSA: WOMAN (shouting): OFFICER: WOMAN: >> What's this?

So many paraphenalias.

So many, so many.

What's this?

>> Jimmy?

>> Oh, what's that?

WOMAN: OFFICERS: (moaning, crying) WOMAN (crying): OFFICER: CABRALES: WOMAN: (crying) OFFICER: (dog barking) AUSSA: OFFICER: WOMAN: ♪ ♪ (barking continues) MODEQUILLO: AUSSA: MODEQUILLO: (car horn honks) ♪ ♪ JAKE: (ringing) I saw him with less than ten grams of marijuana.

(people talking in background) (cell door clangs shut) JAKE (in Filipino language): (Adolfo Agustin singing) ♪ And you know sometimes I'd rather be... ♪ (continues singing) (hair clippers buzzing) ♪ Too much love will give you ♪ (continues singing) MAN: AGUSTIN: (baton clattering on bars) (man groans) (baton clattering on bars) AGUSTIN: (man groans) AGUSTIN: (engines revving) (people talking) ORLY FERNANDEZ: (vehicle engine chugging) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Remember that the drug situation is still very, very alive and vicious.

(bird squawking) (child shouting) >> When I became president, I said, "Do not destroy the Philippines.

Do not do drugs and kill our children, because I will kill you."

So what is wrong with that?

(children shouting playfully) ♪ ♪ MODEQUILLO: Now the president is very eager with regard to his drive against drug, drug war.

MAN: >> If you want to be a good leader... MAN: >> You must be a good follower.

The approach of the president, there were a lot of, you know, comments that it's somewhat harsh.

But, you know, we do sometimes need to have a strong hand also.

Because drugs is the, the evil of all the evils.

♪ ♪ (Filipino national anthem playing on loudspeakers) DEIMOS: (people talking in background) DEIMOS: (laughing) MODEQUILLO: DEIMOS (chuckling): ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (TV playing in distance) MAN (on TV): (TV audio fades) (Fernandez calls dog) MAN (on TV): (bird twittering) LOREMIE SEVILLA: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Police, just do your duty.

Just follow my instructions and you do not have anything to worry.

I will protect you.

Murder and homicide or whatever, unlawful killing, is not allowed.

Your duty requires you to overcome the resistance of the person you are arresting.

If he resists, and it is a violent one, placing in jeopardy the lives of my policemen, you are free to kill the idiots.

That is my order to you.

OFFICER: >> This one!

REPORTER: MAN: >> How many suspects, sir?

MAN: REPORTER: ♪ ♪ (dog barking) (horn honks) FUJI: MARTINEZ: FUJI: MARTINEZ: DEIMOS: (dog barking) BOY: DEIMOS: BOY: DEIMOS: (thunder rumbling) Drug dealers, drug users, the problem of the nation.

(thunder rumbling) Those are usually the victims of the shooting.

>> (murmurs) >> Lots of the shootings seem very professional.

>> Yes.

>> You can understand why people might think it was the police.

>> Yes, the people might think that it was a... or it was done by some police officers, but actually, it was not.

The police kill when they fight back.

(chuckles) If the police do it, it will...

It is, uh...

It is legitimate, because we the police are law enforcers, so what we are just doing is to enforce the law.

President Duterte really hates drugs.

A drug addict or drug pusher, that kind of person has no place already here.

That's their choice.

They don't want to live anymore.

They want to live in hell already.

(chuckles) They choose to transfer, to reassign in hell.

I heard that most of the shooting incidents here in the south was in the way of what you have said.

>> It was the police?

>> Some said about that.

>> That the police were doing the shootings?

>> Yes.

>> Other police officers said that?

>> Yes, other police officers.

♪ ♪ (people talking in background) MODEQUILLO: (cheering and applauding) >> These drug dealers know fully well the consequences of their criminal acts.

The war against illegal drugs is far from over.

>> Almost every day, dead bodies are being recovered from the streets in Manila; on this occasion, a tricycle taxi driver who was shot in the head.

(tattoo needle buzzing) (buzzing stops) (buzzing resumes) (buzzing stops) MARTINEZ: (buzzing resumes) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ FERNANDEZ: MARTINEZ: FUJI: >> President Duterte!

You consciously and deliberately put in place a permission structure for mass murder.

And in due time, you will be held accountable for the thousands of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.

(crowd cheers) (speaking Filipino language) CAJIPE: >> Huh?

CAJIPE: MODEQUILLO: >> Those shootings, they seem quite professional.

Can you understand why people think it's maybe police or connected to police?

>> Uh, you know, there are a lot of people, they are thinking that police are involved with that.

But no, we are... we're not after for the life of these people.

In Caloocan, we have 1,000 police there.

I cannot see all of them.

There is always a black sheep.

>> And some of the police in Caloocan told us that some of those shootings were done by police.

Are those just black sheep or do you think that comes from above?

>> I do not know, because, you know, sometimes, there are incidents that are still under investigation.

All the killings or all the incidents that is happening actually is... are all under investigation.

(people talking in background) >> Was that something that you had heard, that maybe it was police from the district who had carried out those shootings?

>> Um, I do not...

I do not know.

I do not have any comment for that.

Um, but what is important is, the investigation is rolling.

♪ ♪ (birds chirping) >> "Shootings get Caloocan top cop fired.

Relief prompted by series of unsolved incidents in city.

More than six months after he promised to keep Caloocan city less bloody, Senior Superintendent Jemar Modequillo was fired from his post effective on Monday for failing to solve over half of shootings which happened during his watch."

♪ ♪ >> Our Lord make a lot of sacrifices to save people.

So we are not actually God.

No one is perfect and we are all sinners.

We have sometimes to repent.

But it's somewhat like unfair to me.

Being a good soldier, we must be a good follower.

We have to follow.

We have to follow.

(women singing) (siren wailing in distance) (police radio beeps) ♪ ♪ (vehicle engine puttering) (siren wailing in distance) >> What are your sins?

(hair clippers buzzing) The drugs war will not be sidelined.

(clippers buzzing) Instead, it will be as relentless and chilling... (clippers buzzing) (clippers click off) ...as on the day it began.

(Martinez expels breath) >> Go to pbs.org/frontline for more on the origins of the drug war in the Philippines.

>> Until the last pusher and the last drug lord are... (throat cutting sound) >> And the activists trying to reform drug-related policies and laws.

(shouting) Connect to the "Frontline" community on Facebook and Twitter, and watch anytime on the PBS Video App or pbs.org/frontline.

>> I will nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh... >> NARRATOR: A Supreme Court face-off 30 years in the making.

>> You will see a system that has become toxic.

>> When Bork got taken down, they promised never to forgive.

>> It was raw politics and it was war.

>> Mitch McConnell is a tactical genius.

>> We're not giving a lifetime appointment to this president on the way out the door.

>> Unprecedented.

>> Democrats are outraged.

>> We're living in the era of the McConnell Court now.

♪ ♪ >> For more on this and other "Frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

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This program is also available on Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪