He’s a family man. He’s a religious man. He’s not a bad man. It’s just that some people need killing.
Internationally acclaimed journalist and award-winning author Patricia Evangelista recounted the conversation with one of the vigilantes behind the killings in the bloody drug war of former President Rodrigo Duterte that influenced the title of her award-winning book “Some People Need Killing” during the UP Cebu leg of her book tour last April 22, 2024.
Over 200 people attended the public event which was organized in collaboration with the UP Cebu College of Communication, Art, and Design (CCAD) and Streetlaw PH.
She also talked about what it was like as a trauma journalist covering violent deaths, such as the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug personalities that started on the first day of Duterte’s administration. She explained that she asked the same questions every night like a checklist and learned how to stand still and listen for the screaming to know where the families of the victims were. Some People Need Killing tells the stories of the victims of the drug war and the families they left behind.
The book launch also featured a short conversation between Evangelista and CCAD Prof. Maria Theresa Angelina Tabada and a moderated forum with the audience, media, and campus press asking questions.
During the chat, Evangelista expounded on the use of the craft of creative nonfiction to bring readers to the grim and the absurd as well as the unexpectedly hopeful in the War on Drugs.
Some People Need Killing is available in hardbound and paperback versions in all Fully Booked branches.