Thousands of Filipinos have been apprehended by police in the last two weeks. It comes after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte urged law enforcement to be stricter on loiterers, who he implied were potential trouble. But much like the firebrand leader's war on drugs, the campaign has been on the receiving end of widespread criticism for possible abuses. CGTN's Barnaby Lo has more.

First, they went after drug users and dealers, now Philippine police is targeting quote, potential troublemakers. We went out with cops less than two weeks into the campaign.

BARNABY LO MANILA "So it's Friday, 10 in the evening right now, and we are with cops from Quezon City, which is the biggest suburb in Metro Manila. And you know, normally, at 10 in the evening, this would be filled with people. But now I can see the streets are almost empty."

By then police had taken more than 8,000 into their custody, but just when I thought it might be over, the officers we were with started picking up people. Their offense – smoking in public. Despite initially labeling their campaign "anti-loitering", officials now say that's not what it's about.

SENIOR SUPT. BENIGNO DURANA PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE SPOKESPERSON "What we are actually intensifying as far as enforcement is concerned is the enforcement of city and local ordinances  to deter and prevent commission of crimes and number two is to improve the sense of safety and security of the people."

This even as the government claims President Rodrigo Duterte's signature drug war has lowered crime rate. Now detention facilities in local precincts are packed. The last time Marilou Argoncillo saw her brother Genesis was in one such jail. She says his only offense was being out shirtless, but now he's dead, his entire body black with bruises after having been mauled by co-detainees, according to the latest police statement.

MARILOU ARGONCILLO "It hurts so much to lose him like this. The store he went to was so close to our house, I wouldn't even consider it a public place. The way I see it, he was shirtless in our own place."

A lawmaker has filed a resolution to investigate the latest police crackdown but critics say the death of Genesis is proof of how prone to abuse it is.

LEAH ARMAMENTO COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS "If it is scary for me, who knows the law, how much more the poor, those who cannot read, cannot write, who cannot even assert their rights, they don't even know their rights."

Marilou was in fact willing to just move on after she will have bailed her brother out, but now she's demanding justice for a death she describes as senseless. Barnaby Lo, CGTN, Manila.