Rodrigo Roa Duterte is not a heartless, merciless killer, after all. He is affected by media criticism and global censure.
On Sunday, Jan. 29, the President put a stop to the 160,000-strong Philippine National Police conducting his vicious illegal drugs war, which had claimed 7,000 deaths in seven months of the campaign. The unprecedented scale of violence has made Duterte’s the most violent presidency in history.
This year, Duterte would have exceeded the 10,000 or so alleged human rights violations under the 20-year presidency (1965-February 1986) of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. While campaigning for president, Duterte vowed to drown as many as 100,000 drug addicts and drug lords in already-polluted Manila Bay.
Marcos was never formally convicted, in a competent Philippine court, for the so-called 10,000 human rights violations. Yet, the charge tarnished him forever in people’s memory and history. Per historians, Marcos’s alleged human rights victims numbered no more than 3,257, less than half Duterte’s alleged human rights victims by now.
Under Duterte’s no-quarters drugs war, from July 1, 2016 to January 22, 2017, media reports claim over 7,000 deaths linked to the “war on drugs”. Ten to 30 people were killed daily because of the drugs war. At this rate, Duterte’s war will exceed the casualties on both sides in either of the 47 years of the communist insurgency of the New People’s Army or the 44 years of the separatist insurgency of the Moro National Liberation Front and/or the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Two-thirds of the drugs war victims were killings under investigation. The police didn’t own up to them. The police blame vigilantes or an internecine war among the drug lords. But most of the unexplained killings were perpetrated by so-called riding-in-tandem killers. They are so efficient and merciless one cannot but suspect the riders had formal training to kill and were under guidance, if not protection, by the police. Indeed, on the first day of the anti-drugs ceasefire, nobody was reported dead—proof that the police had something to do with the vigilante killings.
Per the PNP, the toll during July 1, 2016 to Jan. 22, 2017 under Duterte’s drugs war had reached 7,028—2,503 killed in police operations, 3,603 killed in cases under investigation, and 922 in cases where investigation had been concluded as of Jan. 9, 2017.
The PNP calls its drive against illegal drugs “Oplan Double Barrel.” More insidious though is Project “TokHang”—a contraction of “toktok” and “hangyo” (Visayan words for “knock” and “request” respectively). Tokhang enables the police to make house-to-house calls in search of drug users, users and lords and their cache of illegal drugs.
On Sunday, Duterte “ordered the police to stop all its anti-illegal drugs operations. No policemen in this country anywhere is allowed to enforce laws related to the drug campaign.”
The trigger was the kidnapping by the police of Jee Ick Joo, a South Korean businessman, from his house in Angeles City, Pampanga, in October 2016. Jee was brought the same day 100 kilometers south to the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. There, a few meters away from the home and office of PNP Chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the Korean businessman was strangled by a police sergeant, Ricky Sta. Isabel, allegedly upon the orders of his superior, police Col. Raphael Dumlao. Per investigation, Sta. Isabel and Dumlao were partners in a kidnapping syndicate preying on businessmen in the guise of conducting an illegal drugs war.
Chief Dela Rosa offered to resign amid the public outcry. Duterte declined the resignation “because it would not contribute [to] anything.” Instead, the President ordered Dela Rosa to clean the PNP ranks of scalawags and criminals. While the cleansing is ongoing, the PNP has been banned from conducting the illegal drugs war.
The President called PNP “corrupt to the core”. “It (corruption) is in your system.” The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) would take the lead from the PNP, with the support of the army.
On Tuesday, Jan. 31, Dela Rosa issued this directive: “As directed by the President, we are going to dissolve all anti-drugs units of the PNP at all levels, including the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group of the PNP [headquarters].”
Dela Rosa also created a counter-intelligence task force that would go after police officers engaging in criminal activities, including the illegal drugs trade.
Duterte says both Dumlao and Sta. Isabel shamed the police and shamed the presidency.
Sta. Isabel, a police sergeant, makes only P8,000 a month. Yet, three years ago, he declared assets of P20 million. In 2015, he declared assets of P17 million. He has a four-story commercial building in Cubao, several houses in Caloocan City, and several recent model vehicles.
“How could he [Sta. Isabel]have made P20 million in his lifetime,” asked Duterte in his Sunday press conference. “That is what happens if you crave for material things you cannot afford,” the President concluded.
His message to the police: “If you want a better deal in life, get out [of the police force] and do business outside. Do not be a gangster because I will oversight [oversee you].”
To ensure police discipline, Duterte also announced the formation of an elite half a battalion size army force to track down the criminals masquerading as policemen. “I have them [the army] check you, what kind of businesses they are engaged in,” he told police scalawags.
The cleansing will be quite easy, according to the President. “All you have to do is look at the records and how many policemen have had cases, mostly involving extortion [and similar crimes].”
Why the army?
“I have raised the issue to the level of a national security [issue]. That empowers me to get into the picture, military doing police work. That is what is happening in Mindanao,” Duterte explained.
Policemen are supposed to be civil servants. They are not under military discipline although they sport military titles and epaulets. If found erring, policemen, unlike military men, cannot be confined to barracks to neutralize them. Police scalawags have to be sort of tried by the National Police Commission, which procedure takes almost always forever.
About 40 percent of policemen charged are able to return to the police force.
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