In this harrowing and deeply reported memoir, journalist Patricia Evangelista documents Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs in the Philippines. Drawing from years of firsthand reporting, Evangelista chronicles the violence, propaganda, and moral disintegration that defined a nation’s descent into authoritarianism. Through vivid narratives of victims, enforcers, and survivors, the book becomes a powerful indictment of state-sponsored killings and a meditation on fear, complicity, and resistance. Some People Need Killing is both a work of fearless journalism and a profoundly personal reckoning with truth and accountability in the face of terror.
About Patricia Evangelista
Patricia Evangelista is a Filipino journalist and author known for her fearless reporting on trauma, conflict, and state violence. A former writer for Rappler and Vice News, she gained prominence covering Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines. Her book Some People Need Killing is a searing account of extrajudicial killings and the culture of impunity that enabled them. Evangelista combines literary skill with journalistic rigor, offering deeply human portraits of both victims and perpetrators. Her work is driven by a moral urgency to document truth and preserve memory, even in the face of institutional denial and censorship.
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