Hit Man Recalls Violent Past of Philippine President as Wave of Killings Raises Human Rights Concerns

A wave of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines has claimed thousands of lives since Rodrigo Duterte became president in June. Duterte vowed during his campaign to crack down on drug users just like he did as the longtime mayor of the city of Davao, where his strongman tactics prompted Human Rights Watch to call him the "death squad mayor." His promises to end crime during his presidential campaign earned him a new nickname: "Filipino Trump." A former hit man testified Wednesday that while Duterte was mayor, he personally ordered him to carry out assassinations. This comes after President Obama canceled a meeting with Duterte during his trip to Laos after he called him a "son of a whore" and warned him not to ask about his so-called drug war. We speak with Ninotchka Rosca, a Filipina activist, feminist and author of “State of War,” a novel set in the Philippines during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.