The government believes vigilantes may be systematically killing suspected drug dealers after Manila's mayor vowed to eliminate drugs from the city within six months.
Mayor Alfredo Lim, a former police chief once called the "Dirty Harry of the Philippines," announced his campaign against drug dealers on Nov. 14. Since then, 14 bodies have been found in slum areas with reputations as drug havens.The latest was a still-unidentified body found hanging early Monday with telephone cable from a bridge. The body, like most of the others, bore multiple stab wounds.
Some of the bodies had signs in the Tagalog language reading: "I'm a drug pusher. Don't do like me." Most of the bodies have not been identified.
The 14 do not include three alleged pushers whom police have acknowledged killing since Sunday. In the latest incident, two alleged drug dealers were killed in a pre-dawn gunbattle Tuesday in the city's Old Santa Mesa district.
The killings have revived memories of the dark days of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos' administration, when police killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of political opponents and petty criminals.