US-based premium newspaper The New York Times has published the Philippines’ war on drugs by putting the Pietà-like photo of a Filipino wife cradling her dead husband in its front page.
Titled “Body Count Rises as Philippine President Wages War on Drugs”,
the famous photo, which was likened to Michelangelo’s sculpture “Pietà,” was taken by Raffy Lerma. It shows Jennelyn Olaires cradling her husband Michael Siaron, a pedicab driver and alleged drug pusher, who was shot and killed by motorcycle-riding men in Pasay City last month. This picture has since then become the symbol of the country’s drug war.
Duterte earlier dismissed the photo calling it as melodramatic, even as critics and international non-government organizations have called for a stop to the killings.
The New York Times cited a letter of the International Drug Policy Consortium urging the United Nations drug control agencies “to demand an end to the atrocities currently taking place in the Philippines” and to state that extrajudicial killings “do not constitute acceptable drug control measures.”
The group also called on the UN agencies to urge the Philippine government to promote an “evidence-based and health-focused approach” to people who use drugs such as voluntary treatment and encourage Duterte to uphold the rule of law and right to due process.
The photo of Olaires and Sairon was first featured by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on its front page last July 24.
