NEWS: British Documentary ‘On The President’s Orders’ Shows Police Perspective on Philippine Drug War1 min read
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MANILA – “Are the police your friends or enemies? Who are your friends?” asked Col. Jemar Modequillo, the former Caloocan chief of police. He was speaking to a bunch of children in a covered court.
“The police,” the children, in their high-pitched voices, answered in chorus.
This is how the trailer of the documentary “On The President’s Orders” opens – with a question mark on the police’s role in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
To answer the question, Emmy-winning filmmakers James Jones and Olivier Sarbil filmed Modequillo and his men at the Caloocan City Police Station for six months in 2017 after the death of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos.
“We wanted to understand the perspective of the police who were waging this bloody war – and understand how they could justify the killing,” Jones told the Inquirer. “We discovered that they genuinely believe the deaths are worth it and that the drug war is working.”
The 71-minute film will play at Sheffield Doc/Fest, Great Britain’s biggest documentary festival, in June.
Though it has received attention abroad, Jones said there were no plans for screening the film in the Philippines.
Photo credit: AsiaOne
