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salvage

salvage v. to kill or assassinate. Editorial Note: This meaning appears to be specific to the Philippines. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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  • As used in the Philippines, the verb “salvage” and the noun “salvaging” are the slang equivalents of the terms “to execute extrajudicially, to assassinate” and “extrajudicial execution,” terms used by human-rights organizations such as Amnesty International. It began as an anglicization or Englishing of the Tagalog word “salbahe,” whose meaning ranges from mischievous or abusive (adj.) and a notoriously abusive person (noun). “Salbahe,” in turn, is derived from the Spanish word “salvaje,” wild, undomesticated, savage.

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