Photo © Annamaria Bruni
Talent of the Year 2020 - NOMINEE: Annamaria Bruni
Requiem for a dream
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Over the last few years, Philippine's President Duterte has been ‘cleansing’ the country from drug dealers and drugs users with his death squads.
Police estimate more than 5,000 suspected and addicts have been killed since President Duterte took office in 2016, but according to Human Rights Group since the “war on drugs” began, 22.983 deaths are classified as “homicides under investigation.”
Sammer Torculas was among these.
Half Phillipino and half Jordanian, he was dragged into the Drug business by Gigi, his mother, who made her living by selling Shabu.
Shabu it's a slang term used to call the methamphetamine used in Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Shabu began in the 1990s as the drug of choice among the affluent, but over the past decade it has filtered down into the masses and has become very popular among the lower classes. It has come to be known as “the poor man’s cocaine”.
Despite the warning of the police, Sammer continued to sell meth in his own neighborhood in Pandacan, a district in Manila, , and on December of 2016 he was shot in front of his house by the Death Squads, although he was unarmed and begged for mercy.
Immediately following his death, Sammer's mother Gigi was jailed for drug possession and transferred to the main prison in Manila, where she served time for for possession and dealing of drugs.
For nine years Sammer had a stable relationship with Chilotte Flaviano, who gave him five children.
Since the beginning Chilotte asked Sammer and his mother repeatedly to quit the drug business, but without success.
After Sammer’s death and the arrest of her mother-in-law, Chilotte has remained the only one to look after her five children, without any fixed income, struggling every day to survive.
In the same year she has started a relationship with her neighbor, who was also a Shabu addict, and became pregnant of her sixth child, Caleb.
The relationship ended soon.
After two years, Gigi was released from prison due to her critical heath condition and has returned to live in Pandacan, with the daughter in law and her six grandchildren.
Her health deteriorated during the two years in prison, but she takes care of the babies, the only legacy of her beloved son, while Chilotte works to pay for food and bills.
Duterte’s war on drugs has left thousands of children living as orphans or in single-parent families struggling to put food on the table.
Human Rights Watch investigated the killings of adults in which police showed little to no regard for the safety and welfare of children, often conducting raids in the middle of the night while the entire family was at home. In many raids, children witnessed the killing of a parent, or were present while their parent was dragged away and shot.
Just like what happened to Sammer's family.
The loss of a parent who is the main breadwinner can plunge an already impoverished family into even more extreme poverty.
About author:
I'm a free-lance Photographer working and living in Egypt since 2008.
I developed a strong interest in images from an early age, thanks to my father's passion for photography.
I took my first steps in this field in Sardinia, working as a photograher's assistant, then attended a course in fashion photography in Milan.
I lived in London between 2000 and 2003, working with various models agencies and during this period I specialized in female portraits, which has remained my great passion to this day.
In 2004 I travelled to Egypt and was bewitched by the Middle East.
In these years I have been traveling in the West Bank, Gaza , Lebanon Jordan, Turkey, Afghanistan Thailand and Philippines collaborating with several NGOs : UNHCR- Terre des Hommes - Vento di Terra Cooperazione Italiana , Help without Frontiers.
On the edge of the Sinai desert I combine my two passions: the sea and earth, nature and culture, underwater and reportage photography.
Police estimate more than 5,000 suspected and addicts have been killed since President Duterte took office in 2016, but according to Human Rights Group since the “war on drugs” began, 22.983 deaths are classified as “homicides under investigation.”
Sammer Torculas was among these.
Half Phillipino and half Jordanian, he was dragged into the Drug business by Gigi, his mother, who made her living by selling Shabu.
Shabu it's a slang term used to call the methamphetamine used in Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Shabu began in the 1990s as the drug of choice among the affluent, but over the past decade it has filtered down into the masses and has become very popular among the lower classes. It has come to be known as “the poor man’s cocaine”.
Despite the warning of the police, Sammer continued to sell meth in his own neighborhood in Pandacan, a district in Manila, , and on December of 2016 he was shot in front of his house by the Death Squads, although he was unarmed and begged for mercy.
Immediately following his death, Sammer's mother Gigi was jailed for drug possession and transferred to the main prison in Manila, where she served time for for possession and dealing of drugs.
For nine years Sammer had a stable relationship with Chilotte Flaviano, who gave him five children.
Since the beginning Chilotte asked Sammer and his mother repeatedly to quit the drug business, but without success.
After Sammer’s death and the arrest of her mother-in-law, Chilotte has remained the only one to look after her five children, without any fixed income, struggling every day to survive.
In the same year she has started a relationship with her neighbor, who was also a Shabu addict, and became pregnant of her sixth child, Caleb.
The relationship ended soon.
After two years, Gigi was released from prison due to her critical heath condition and has returned to live in Pandacan, with the daughter in law and her six grandchildren.
Her health deteriorated during the two years in prison, but she takes care of the babies, the only legacy of her beloved son, while Chilotte works to pay for food and bills.
Duterte’s war on drugs has left thousands of children living as orphans or in single-parent families struggling to put food on the table.
Human Rights Watch investigated the killings of adults in which police showed little to no regard for the safety and welfare of children, often conducting raids in the middle of the night while the entire family was at home. In many raids, children witnessed the killing of a parent, or were present while their parent was dragged away and shot.
Just like what happened to Sammer's family.
The loss of a parent who is the main breadwinner can plunge an already impoverished family into even more extreme poverty.
About author:
I'm a free-lance Photographer working and living in Egypt since 2008.
I developed a strong interest in images from an early age, thanks to my father's passion for photography.
I took my first steps in this field in Sardinia, working as a photograher's assistant, then attended a course in fashion photography in Milan.
I lived in London between 2000 and 2003, working with various models agencies and during this period I specialized in female portraits, which has remained my great passion to this day.
In 2004 I travelled to Egypt and was bewitched by the Middle East.
In these years I have been traveling in the West Bank, Gaza , Lebanon Jordan, Turkey, Afghanistan Thailand and Philippines collaborating with several NGOs : UNHCR- Terre des Hommes - Vento di Terra Cooperazione Italiana , Help without Frontiers.
On the edge of the Sinai desert I combine my two passions: the sea and earth, nature and culture, underwater and reportage photography.