A bitter Christmas

Sad memories: Normita holding a picture of her deceased son Djastin at the train tracks where the incident occurred.

“IF there was no ‘war on drugs’, I would have been able to spend Christmas with my son.”

Fifty-six-year-old Normita Lopez’ voice crackles with fury. Her son, Djastin – just 23 years old – was shot dead two and a half years ago. He was one of the 5,526 documented victims of President Rodrigo Duterte’s wave of violence.