Killing Politicians in the Philippines: Who, Where, When, and Why

Abstract

In his second report on the targeted killing of politicians in the Philippines, Peter Kreuzer explores a number of core-questions: what types of politicians are victimized, how is the violence distributed in the country, how do the levels of violence change over time, who orders the killings, and what are the motives for the killings. The analysis is based on a new dataset covering the years 2006 to 2021 that records a total of 1500 victims who were either killed or wounded in targeted assas­sinations or escaped unharmed. The detailed mapping establishes targeted killings of politicians as one deeply ingrained pattern of violent electoral competition.