MANILA: Mae Paner is a policeman-turned-assassin, a widowed Zumba dancer, a photojournalist and an orphaned child. They are all characters in her new one-woman show against a bloody war on drugs in the Philippines.
Paner, better known by her stage name “Juana Change,” said she wanted to add her voice to the condemnation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s fierce 15-month-old campaign which has killed thousands of people.
“I feel very strongly that we have our work cut out for us as artists to wake people up, to wake our president up, and to tell him that we are against his war on drugs,” Paner told Reuters Television.
Paner portrays four characters who are affected by the drugs war, from the assassin grappling with his guilt and the journalist scarred by images of the nightly carnage, to widows and orphans crying out for justice.
Filipinos remain largely supportive of the campaign as a solution to tackling rampant crime, which Duterte says stems mostly from drug addiction.
Human rights groups, the Catholic Church and opposition lawmakers have raised alarm about the killings that have focused largely on the urban poor and have not spared young people.
More than 3,800 people have been killed in police anti-drugs operations in the past 15 months and at least 2,100 other homicides were likely drug related.
Police reject allegations by human rights groups that they are executing suspected users and dealers.
Some audience members who watched a recent performance of Paner’s play said they hoped it would prompt Filipinos to ask questions about the drugs war.
“The more this play is staged — wherever it may be shown, wherever more people can watch it — the more people can think and have much more informed opinions on this matter,” said Pastor Kakai Pamaran.
Actress goes solo to push for end to Philippines drug war
Actress goes solo to push for end to Philippines drug war
WHO says one person dead from Nipah virus in Bangladesh
- Nipah is an infection that spreads mainly through products contaminated by infected bats, such as fruit
DHAKA: The World Health Organization said on Friday that a woman had died in northern Bangladesh in January after contracting the deadly Nipah virus infection.
The case in Bangladesh, where Nipah cases are reported almost every year, follows two Nipah virus cases identified in neighboring India, which has already prompted stepped-up airport screenings across Asia.
The patient in Bangladesh, aged between 40-50 years, developed symptoms consistent with Nipah virus on January 21, including fever and headache followed by hypersalivation, disorientation and convulsion, the WHO added.
She died a week later and was confirmed to be infected with the virus a day later.
The person had no travel history but had a history of consuming raw date palm sap. All 35 people who had contact with the patient are being monitored and have tested negative for the virus, and no further cases have been detected to date, the WHO said.
Nipah is an infection that spreads mainly through products contaminated by infected bats, such as fruit. It can be fatal in up to 75 percent of cases, but it does not spread easily between people.
Countries including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Pakistan implemented temperature screenings at airports after India said cases of the virus had been found in West Bengal.
The WHO said on Friday that the risk of international disease spread is considered low and that it does not recommend any travel or trade restrictions based on current information.
In 2025, four laboratory-confirmed fatal cases were reported in Bangladesh.
There are currently no licensed medicines or vaccines specific for the infection.
