peddlers, or as “collateral damage”), or secondary victims as witnesses to the death of their loved ones. Related to this, the experiences of women and children of the War on Drugs and extrajudicial killings (EJK) are more complex than the image of wailing family members often featured in the news. Some women felt a degree of relief after the family member’s death because he (or she) had been abusive to them, while some took a matter-of-fact stance and focused on dealing with the issues that came after. The individual personalities, the quality of their relationship the EJK victim, their position in the family, age, gender, and socioeconomic class, among others, affect their expressions of grief and how they respond to their present situation. • Ensuring the family’s welfare was the primary concern of women after losing a family member to EJK. The impact of EJK on women and children revolved mostly around two things: the psychological and emotional effects, and the effect of the death on the practical side of their everyday living. All the women participants are in agreement that securing the needs of the household was – and still is – their most urgent concern. This can be as immediate as ensuring the next meal to longer-term plans for the children to complete schooling. The women from lower income classes were vulnerable to further deprivation of basic goods and services, especially if the EJK victim was the family breadwinner. They also have limited means to access information about their rights and options, and welfare services. The more well-off women participants were more likely to have considered getting legal justice for the death of their loved ones. • Women bore (or, is bearing) the brunt of community ostracization and stigmatization for having an “addict” family member. This may be because women, more than men, are their families’ link to community life. Women interact more frequently than men with their neighbors and are engaged with community-based institutions such as schools, health centers, and churches, among others. They build and maintain social relationships and network as an extension of their care work for the household. Thus, women would also be a group that would acutely feel the social impacts of the Drug War: the fear and distrust it sowed between neighbors, between community residents and outsiders, and between people and government institutions. Manifestation of community ostracization and stigmatizaton include relatives and friends not going to the wake, not receiving support from the barangay, being gossiped about or ignored. These incidents were either downplayed or said to have eased as time went by the women, but it was also clear that many of them are still pained from the memory. Panaghoy: The Philippine War on Drugs from the Perspective of Women March 2019 56

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