Tanggol Bayi, an association of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the Philippines, strongly condemns the succession of violence against women by State forces amid the implementation of the Duterte government’s anti-people policies, foremost the war on drugs and counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan.
The drug war did not only spin a series of brutal killings perpetrated by police forces who hide behind their twisted narratives. This campaign by the Duterte regime also gave rise to cases of gross violence against women and children committed with impunity. Several non-government organizations revealed a heinous scheme called sex-for-freedom scheme or “palit-puri” rampant among police operations, but have exponentially worsened amid the drug war. This involves police operatives using the drug war to rape women, by way of bargaining unwanted sexual intercourse with suspected women drug suspects or women relatives of persons they accuse of peddling drugs in exchange for freedom.