This project investigates assassinations within the Philippines surrounding the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in mid-2016. We use a sample period of 2014 through 2018 and examine the number of assassinations carried out in the years “before” versus the years “after. In doing this, we hypothesize that the volume of assassinations after Duterte’s election will be higher than the period before. This, in part, may be due to Duterte’s publishing of a ‘hit list’ which he spoke of during a televised speech soon after his election.