“As if this sham drug war and Duterte’s counterinsurgency program is not enough, this government is continuously coming up with more sinister schemes to kill more Filipinos. The process of identifying targets will inevitably be arbitrary and will result in the deaths of activists and critics already red-tagged by this government and of the poor in its anti-drug campaign. This is an insidious ploy that will add to the number of murders that this regime has already ruthlessly committed – all denied of their right to due process,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay on President Duterte’s statement creating a death squad to target the New People’s Army (NPA) and “idlers” in a recent speech at Camp Rajah Sikatuna in Carmen, Bohol.