Freelance photographer wins Pulitzer for documenting drug war

MANILA, Philippines - Australian freelance photographer Daniel Berehulak has won the Pulitzer Prize for documenting the bloody anti-drug war of President Duterte .

Berehulak, now based in Mexico City, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography that ran in The New York Times late last year.

Berehulak’s photos were cited for showing the “callous disregard for human life in the Philippines brought about by a government assault on drug dealers and users.” He will take home $15,000.

The dramatic photos include bodies stacked like firewood in a morgue, overcrowded jails and shots of a rain-drenched alley where a slain suspect’s blood mingles with rainwater under streetlight.

The photos appeared with an article on the Dec. 7, 2016 issue of the New York Times, titled “They are Slaughtering Us Like Animals: Inside President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal anti-drug campaign in the Philippines our photojournalist documented 57 homicide victims over 35 days.”

Malacañang respects the decision of the Pulitzer award-giving body.

“The Western press has been highly critical of the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drug traffickers and violators,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said yesterday. 

“The Pulitzer Prize Board has its own criteria and selection process and we respect their decision on this matter,” Abella added.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said the foreign media, which have been critical of the war on drugs, do not connect with the reality that people support the campaign.

Dela Rosa cited the recent Pulse Asia survey which stated 82 percent Metro Manila residents feel safer because of the PNP’s anti-drug campaign.

Dela Rosa dared members of the foreign press to also talk with the people.

“They should talk to the 82 percent of Filipinos who are saying they feel safe because of our war on drugs,” Dela Rosa said.

He said international media groups should not limit themselves to the 18 percent of residents in Metro Manila whom he described as elitists and oligarchs angry at the Duterte administration.

Dela Rosa joked that Berehulak should give the Philippines a portion of his $15,000 reward.

“He should give royalties to the Philippines because he won as a result of our war on drugs,” he said.

Dela Rosa maintained there are no state-sponsored killings in the country, contrary to what is being portrayed in the world.

“You want to have an objective assessment of the situation, then be objective with what you are doing,” he said.

Dela Rosa visited the Baclaran Redemptorist Church, one of the places he inspected as part of preparations for the Holy Week break.

The church has been critical of war on drugs and even posted chilling photos of the killings linked to the anti-drug campaign last December.

Dela Rosa met with Rev. F. Carlos Ronquillo, a rector of the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help located inside the church compound where they discussed security coverage around the establishment.