There is no disputing the magnitude of the drug menace in the Philippines. It is a wonder most Filipinos did not earlier have an idea of how prevalent it was across all sectors of society.
Chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo said as many as 10,000 government officials are in President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of those involved in the drug trade —a list that has been updated and validated, he qualified.
Mr. Duterte, during a gathering of law school alumni over the weekend, said he is giving copies of the list to Congress so he can “formulate how to prevent disaster for the next generation.”
“That means that the magnitude and depth of the drug menace is so much, so huge, that public safety is now in danger,” Panelo said.
It seems we know where Panelo intends to go. A few weeks ago, the Duterte camp tried to float the idea of suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the context of the lawlessness in Mindanao. The proposal was met with widespread condemnation.
Not a few experts have pointed out that the Constitution’s language is precise as it establishes the two—and only two —conditions for the suspension: Rebellion and invasion.
But Panelo now says critics of the President are looking at the Constitution too literally and that circumstances similar to rebellion and invasion may be considered in contemplating the suspension. Circumstances such as, we venture to guess, a threat to public safety brought by the prevalence of illegal drugs.
This is where Panelo, a lawyer, does a disservice to the law.
There are many texts that are open to creative interpretation, but the fundamental law of the land is not one of them. To have some sense of order, consistency and permanence, there are things that must remain literal even as absolute clarity is not possible.
For a measure of comfort, we need to be able to take some things at face value and not wonder whether they mean something else.
Alas, Panelo echoes his colleague’s exhortation that the people must use “creative imagination”—a redundancy, really—in deciphering what the President is trying to say.
Well, the President is one thing. We have learned over the past few months not to take his words seriously and literally because he is bound to qualify them. For instance, in the same gathering, he sent out a message to drug suspects to stay inside their houses and lock their doors. “If you go out, you sons of whores, I will kill you.”
Fortunately, our Constitution is a lot less colorful and creative than Mr. Duterte’s mouth. It is meant to stay that way.