Talks @ Pulitzer: Body Count Continues to Rise in Philippines' War on Drugs

Join us on Tuesday, June 12, 2018, for a Talks @ Pulitzer with independent journalist Ana Santos, the 2014 Persephone Miel Fellow and a Pulitzer Center grantee. Santos speaks to the damage being done in the Philippines in the government's efforts to rid the streets of drug users and drug sellers.

In her Pulitzer Center-supported project, "In Defiance and in Defense of Duterte," Santos follows the aftermath of President Rodrigo Duterte's election and his campaign promise to lower drug use and the sales of drugs by using a simple law enforcement strategy: kill them all. Since assuming office in June 2016, the Duterte Administration has claimed success in its War on Drugs, despite the thousands that have been killed and the divide that the country now finds itself in.

With her reporting, Santos also sheds light on how social media may be impacting events on the ground with growing unrest building over the killings, standing in direct conflict with Duterte's more than 5 million followers and their growing sphere of influence. 

As part of her Talks @ Pulitzer, Santos will discuss her reporting from a divided Philippines, where she says, "the country itself may be the biggest casualty of Duterte's War on Drugs." 

Santos has been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, IRIN News, Rappler, The Atlantic, Deutsche Welle–Germany, and The Guardian, among others. She is based in Manila, Philippines.

Light reception at 5:30 pm, with program to start at 6 pm. The event is free and open to the public but registration is requested.