If one goes by the daily news, it would seem that we are a country at war—wars of various kinds, but wars involving Filipinos against Filipinos.
Foremost of these is President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs. Because of this, no day passes by without accounts of people being killed on the streets, and even in their homes in front of suspects’ families and children. The only day that no killing was reported was when Duterte announced the suspension of this war following the public outcry generated by the murder of a South Korean businessman by rouge policemen.
More than 7,000 lives have been lost without any semblance of due process because of this aggressive drive against illegal drugs. According to Amnesty International (AI), most of those killed were poor, prompting the human rights body to say that this is a war against the poor. It is worth noting that virtually all of those killed were suspected small-time drug users and pushers. The big drug lords remain free to continue their criminal activities.
In implementing Duterte’s war, members of the Philippine National Police have killed about half of the total number of those murdered. In many cases, the police claimed that the suspects resisted arrest despite testimonies of witnesses on the contrary, and at times, the impossibility of resisting as the suspects were already in their custody.
It is, therefore, doubly interesting that the AI report claimed that police were getting paid as much as P15,000.00 per suspect killed in this war. If this is true, then the war on drugs has been turned into a profitable enterprise by some members of the group that is supposed to protect people from lawless elements. This can also explain why most of those killed were poor. Their families would not have the resources to pursue their cases and fight for justice, leaving the murderers free.
The suspension of Duterte’s war on drugs is because of another “war” he, and PNP Chief General Bato dela Rosa are allegedly waging—the war against bad eggs in the PNP. So far however, the only thing that people have seen as far as this war goes is Bato punishing rouge cops with push-ups in front of the media. A photo-op some decry.
It has been reported that Duterte wants the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to be involved in his war against drugs as well. The problem is, the AFP is also fighting wars— against terrorists, Abu Sayyaf, ISIS threats, Maute. As of this writing, the ceasefire with communist rebels, the New People’s Army (NPA) has been lifted and the Philippine Military is ordered to pursue them yet again.
Too many wars going on, too many Filipinos are dying. Is this because our leaders think that killing is the only solution to our country’s problems?
Let us not forget that this president also wants the death penalty to be reinstated. Worse, he wants the sentence to be carried out in the most barbaric of ways, through firing squad and public hanging. His rah-rah boys in both Houses of Congress are at work railroading the passage of this bill.
The House of Representatives (HOR) has already started debates and I cringed as I listened to the sponsorship speeches on the bill. Our “honorable” representatives think that killing will solve criminality despite studies concluding that the death penalty does not deter crimes. Even the House leader, Speaker Alvarez remarked that when crime is committed, it is better to just kill criminals. At the Senate, the strongest support for the bill ironically comes from a most religious senator, Emmanuel Pacquiao who said that even Jesus Christ was meted the death penalty, as if it makes it right.
No less than President Duterte himself is the biggest proponent of this “killing mentality.” All his public speeches are peppered with the words kill, die, and those who do not agree with him are threatened to suffer the same fate as those killed in the name of his war on drugs, including human rights advocates. Many times, the president boasted of having killed people during his time as Davao City Mayor. To be fair, this has been his line even during the campaign period but he still won.
For the president, drug users and pushers are not humans. Therefore, they do not have human rights and their lives are unimportant. They must be killed. This is echoed by his JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre. In response to the AI report saying that the killing of thousands under the war on drugs may constitute crimes against humanity, Aguirre said that criminals like drug users and pushers are not humans. Therefore, killing them is not a crime against humanity. Given these pronouncements by our “leaders” where will the families of those killed go to find justice?
It is very disturbing that this “killing mentality” is very strong among this administration’s highest officials. Their solution to crimes is simply to kill, and kill without due process. It is scary to think that anyone can be suspected, or framed as a suspect, and get killed. This has happened to not a few who were murdered in the name of the war on drugs.
It will do good for our leaders, and the country, to realize that killing is not a solution to our many problems. We need to get to the roots of what ail us and strike at those roots. Many times, problems, even drugs, insurgency, and rebellion are caused by extreme poverty and social inequities. These are what we should solve.
An enabling environment where Filipinos can maximize their potentials will inspire people, not murder. A just, equitable, and economically developed country is what we must aspire for. Killing mentality will not bring us there.
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