In this episode, we talk about the assassin-for-hire economy in the Philippines — how organized networks of contract killers operate, what it costs to buy a life, and why political targets are especially at risk. We cover the July 2008 killing of two Bahaghari rap group members, the infamous 1983 assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino, and firsthand accounts from targets like retired police Colonel Wally Sombero. We explore how middlemen and masterminds control the operations, how firearms are sourced or made, and why poverty keeps the pipeline of killers full. The episode also looks at government crackdowns, nationwide gun bans, black market access to weapons, and how private armed groups fuel a killing-for-hire industry that's quietly embedded in the country’s political and criminal landscape.

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