The Philippines' War On Drugs (And The All-Powerful Cardboard Signs)

“Is everyone in?
Are you having a nice time?
Now the final solution can be applied…”

                            Pink Floyd, "The Fletcher Memorial Home"

       Brand-new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ran on an anti-illegal drugs campaign and won. There was hardly a mention of clear policies on economy or on the West Philippine Sea case during his campaign, it was all anti-drugs or anti-crimes pronouncements and still he won, overwhelmingly. He promised that his war against drugs will be ultra-violent and bloody and still, 16 million Filipinos voted him into power. Law-abiding Pinoys are tired of crimes, we get it.

       And now, he is fulfilling his promise—blood have been flowing in the streets and many  drug offenders are dropping dead like flies.

       More than 300 have been killed (and thousands arrested and surrendered) since June 30 (the day the new president assumed office). That’s around twelve killings a day. Bloody indeed. Curiously, most of those killed came from poor families. A couple of drug lords have been killed but the corpses were dominated by poor drug offenders. At first glance, you’d be tempted to applaud. You suppress drugs and you automatically suppress other crimes.  A drug user, in all likelihood, is also a snatcher, a hold-upper, a rapist and a murderer.

       So we, the law abiding citizens, must be happy, right?

       But hold your horses first. Why are these victims not being apprehended, why are they being killed? Why are the police so scared in giving them due process? Cops are saying that it was because they tried to resist arrest and and they shot it out with the cops. In some cases, it probably is true. And people has no problem with that. Cops also have duty to protect themselves. But in most cases, it is most likely plain bull. Most of these victims, critics say, are being intentionally silenced. Why? Some cops are allegedly only out to silence would-be snitches against them. And why are the victims mostly poor? Are there no rich drug users and pushers? Why do the poor always get the full brunt of the law? Punish these drug users but punish also the cops who circumvent the law in their favor, critics say.  Punish these cops who, in their hurry and eagerness to kill would-be rats,  kill innocent people and dismiss them and just label them as collateral damage. We are in war they say, and collateral damage is unavoidable.

       What’s quite bothersome is that people are hardly protesting. There should have been demonstrations against these wanton killings, demonstrations demanding inquiries and investigations—but there are none. And the silence from the public will only embolden some trigger-happy cops to continue their murderous purge.

       And you know what’s scarier if these extra-judicial killings continue unabated and unchecked? Consider this scenario: You are a law abiding citizen but someone is angry enough with you to think of killing you. And this someone does kill you and puts beside your body a cardboard with words that read: Pusher ako, huwag tularan! And majority of those in your community will believe what the placard says and will not demand an investigation regarding your death. They will suddenly forget that you are a good neighbor and that you don’t have a police record and that you live peacefully. The placard declares that you are a drug pusher so you are a drug pusher. These cardboards, these signs are infallible for some people these days. Your relatives will go to the police and complain but the cops are too busy putting bullets in the body of suspected drug offenders to investigate.

      Every decent person agrees that these drug offenders (and other criminals) must be stopped and punished, no question about that, and that resorting to violence to achieve it is sometimes inevitable. But the problem is, we need to have some evidence first. Without evidence, is it really hard to just apprehend some people first and put them in jail, and make sure they stay in jail, then give them due process, and execute them if the law so warrants? We can't just kill on some people's whims and caprices.

       Is it really so hard to spare all the innocents?