The Filipino president and populist Rodrigo Duterte has proclaimed his own war on drugs. This has given the police the right to brutally crack down on anyone who is suspected of selling drugs, which is virtually everyone who lives in the labyrinthine slums of Manila. Thousands of impoverished people have been killed without trial, and there are shootings on the streets every day. There is a reason why 'On the President's Orders' looks like a thriller. But it digs its way deep into the violent conflict, and examines its obscure causes on both sides of the front. The young member of a family in the slum describes the president's war as a class struggle and a diversion from the country's problems. A smoke screen of spin in line with what we are now witnessing in Brazil and other places. But the two filmmakers have, exceptionally, also managed to get the leaders of the police patrols to talk. And they don't allow them to beat around the bush. James Jones and Olivier Sarbil uncover an underworld of crime and politics, where everyone is not equal before the law.