Mother Of War-On-Drugs Victim To Netflix: Cancel Brillante Mendoza’s ‘Amo’

A mother of a war-on-drugs victim is calling on the world’s leading Internet television network, Netflix, to ‘cancel’ the showing of Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza’s miniseries ‘Amo.’ In her petition, she said that ‘war on drugs is not the solution’ and that ‘killing is not right.’

“Amo” is a 12-part action pack TV series set to depict the current situation of the Philippines regarding the current administration’s ‘war-on-drugs.’ It shows the rampant vigilantism and other controversies encompassing the Philippine National Police and the government’s campaign against illegal drugs. It stars actor Derek Ramsay.

‘For me, killing is not right’

Luzviminda Siapo is the mother of 19-year old Raymart Siapo, a teenager and a person with a disability, who was gunned down after being accused of selling marijuana. In her Change.org petition, she described what happened to her son.

“Raymart was reported to the Barangay (village) Hall falsely accused of selling marijuana. The following night, he was abducted. His arms were broken. He was told to run. But he couldn’t. Raymart was born disabled. He was club-footed. Fourteen masked men riding seven motorcycles abducted and killed my 19-year old son. He was shot twice in the head.”

She said that she is deeply concerned about the airing of the show as Director Mendoza believes that “the war on drugs is ‘necessary in the Philippines and other countries having problems with illegal drugs.”

“My son was one of the thousands of victims of President Duterte’s campaign against drugs. Now that AMO, a show about the war on drugs in the Philippines, is to be screened on Netflix, I am deeply concerned.”

It is known that Mendoza is one of the favorite movie directors of the Duterte administration having directed two live telecasts of Duterte’s State-of-the-Nation addresses and some films about government programs.

The petition currently has nearly 6000 signatures. Read the whole petition below. On his Twitter handle, Direk Brillante recently posted a statement about being ‘truthful’ regarding the issues around us.

Brillante Mendoza’s “Amo” was made available for streaming on Netflix on April 9.

The Filipino audience has to look beyond what the pictures show. At the end of the day, it is not about being controversial, but simply being truthful about the issues that surround us. We have to acknowledge that there are problems going on and face reality. pic.twitter.com/mIh2CaUgoK

— Brillante Mendoza (@brillante_ma) April 9, 2018