(Part II of II Series)
“HUMAN progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of [persons] willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” – Robert Kennedy
What happens when Rodrigo Duterte, the elected president of the Philippines, calls for the elimination of drug lords, without an investigation, offering of evidence, or submitting of cases before a judge or jury?
He said, “drug users are also drug pushers.” He surmised that drug users will need to push drugs to support their habit.
Other countries with addiction
In Thailand, 1.2 million people are involved in drug activities in 2014, according to Stanford Asia Health Policy program article, cited by Stanford Medicine. The study cites:
“Adults in Thailand use drugs to relieve stress and counteract the effects of work. Adolescents use them for entertainment. Historically, farmers and laborers from rural areas of Thailand would use opium for pain relief. More recently, a consumable tablet known as yaba has become popular along with crystal methamphetamine and marijuana. Young people are increasingly using yaba and kratom.”
“Thailand is still a developing country, but it is industrializing quickly. Social and cultural norms have been shifting and people want an improved quality of life. A lot of young people are unemployed and lack social support and are therefore more likely to turn to drug trafficking for economic opportunity. The economic recession and political strife in countries bordering Thailand have exacerbated the situation.”
Days ago, the burning of marijuana plants in Benguet was witnessed by Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa.
With 650,000 users who have surrendered, will these former marijuana users now shift to a new addiction?
Stanford Medicine reports that politicians have resorted to the cut down of kratom trees in Thailand yet, deprived of kratom, addicts simply shift to alcohol, another addictive substance.
“According to a Columbia University study, ‘40 million Americans age 12 and over meet the clinical criteria for addiction involving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs.’”
With the U.S. population of 318,900,000, that’s 1.2 percent of its population.
Study upon study characterizes drug addiction as a health issue, yet in the Philippines, its new president has criminalized this addiction disease and recreated a culture of impunity, called ‘sutokil’ once wanton in the province of Davao, to now the entire country.
Dela Rosa testified at a Senate Hearing on August 22, 2016 that the police killed 756 who ‘resisted’ and 1,100 died, but not at the hands of the police in the so-called “drug wars.” Resisted was not derived by submitting facts or circumstances of shootings, but claims that these victims resisted and therefore were killed by the police. The PNP did not describe the threat to their persons, but simply with a cardboard sign, identified those killed as drug pushers. To date, mainstream media has reported 2,000 killings in 60 days. ABS-CBN keeps a tally and reports it to its constituents on a regular basis.
And why are citizens being killed by this president, who was sworn to protect them?
Does the president realize that his pulpit statements have resulted in proxy killings by ordinary citizens, also known as “vigilante death squads” or “sutokil” aka “shoot to kill?”
Locals in Davao conjured this term to symbolize their daily occurrences, decades ago, as Sugba (grilled fish), Tula (fish soup) and Kilawin (raw fish tossed with vinegar, tomatoes, onions, peppers and spices). They traded their consciences for a false sense of security, justifying as necessary: bodies which are charred and grilled at casual random fires in homes and buildings, akin to sugba or grilled fish. Or seeing bodies swimming in blood, like tula or fish soup, wantonly killed by vigilantes or death squads aka as Alsa Masa. Or suspects’ reputations tainted by associating their names with known drug lords, and much like “kilawin” mixed in with peppers resulting in pungent smells about their lives.
If we are to take the president’s statement that 3,500,000 are drug users/pushers in the Philippines in its population at 102,503,973, at face value, and therefore deserving of resources such that the president is increasing his budget, just for his presidential office alone, bloating it from P1.8 billion to P20 billion, how did it become about mostly rental car expenses, as reported by Rappler?
How did we jump from ridding drug users/pushers to bloated expenses on rental cars? How wrongheaded are this policy and this presidential budget?
But what if the president’s right-headed actions are applied?
Would he focus his attention on how young folks resort to drugs, as for example, they are not in school? Or that adults are not gainfully employed and are selling drugs and pushing them for quick sources of income?
The Philippine Statistics Authority estimates after a survey covering 36 million aged 6 to 24 years, that 4 million are out of school children (ages 6 to 14) — a national average of 10.6 percent or 1 in 10 children out of school.
“Out-of-school children and youth in ARMM comprised 14.4 percent, which is the highest across regions. Six regions have proportion of out-of-school children and youth higher than the national figure at 10.6 percent, namely, SOCCSKSARGEN, Davao, Central Luzon, Zamboanga Peninsula, Caraga and MIMAROPA (ranging from 11.2 to 12.3 percent). Meanwhile, the proportion of out-of-school children and youth was lowest in CAR at 7.1 percent.”
Had the right-headed actions of the president been applied, the bloated budget directed at rental cars for his presidential office would have been directed to hiring teachers, buying books and keeping children in school.
Had the right-headed actions of the president been applied, a province by province survey of jobs needed and intense urban planning and partnerships with private industries on creating those jobs would be done.
After all, the president has the charisma and the personal power to unleash thousands to be killed, he must have the charisma and personal power to unleash a culture of life, a culture whose core is about preservation of life, investing in its children, rehabilitation and redemption and improving the quality of life.
Certainly, the president is so capable of this as he also said he is after the security and welfare of law-abiding citizens.
This president has the capacity to do the right thing, as he did with his appointment of Gina Lopez to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which has suspended mining licenses from firms who have denuded the environments, as for example, in Surigao del Sur.
He certainly has the persuasive capacity to deploy families to send their children to school and keep them in school.
Yet, by his own words, the president has classified drug users as drug pushers and has unleashed the killings of the very population he is supposed to serve, much like a father becoming a predator to his own children.
He has wrongheadedly criminalized the drug addiction issue, widely regarded as public health issues in other countries, like Thailand and the United States, where citizens are reintegrated into the mainstream with rehabilitation programs.
The president declared that he is not concerned about human rights, nor is he concerned about due process. He even went on to say that bodies can be dumped in Manila Bay to fatten up the fish.
He goes on to say that he is not culpable as he did not shoot the girl. He was referring to “Among the DUIs is that of a 5-year-old girl named Danica May who got hit in the head by a stray bullet on August 23 when a gunman shot and wounded her grandfather in Pangasinan. Her being the youngest fatality in the brutal drug war merited news headlines, yet no widespread public uproar was ignited,” according to Former Senator Attorney Joey D. Lina, Jr. on August 29, 2016, as written in Manila Bulletin.
The president’s unsound policy places him as the Messiah, and leaves no room for mercy and the rehabilitation work of the Divine within that person. It simply keeps intact the dark souls of 3,500,000 drug addicts, without shining a light on
how they can be and what they can be as productive, non-addicted citizens of the Philippines.
I cry for these many dark souls, presided by the wrongheaded actions of this current president.
I pray for the collective bright souls of the Philippines to prevail, to influence this presidency, for the bright souls of 3,500,000 addicts he identified be restored, for the 4 million out of school children’s inner light be guided towards education, and the bright lights within the unemployed and underemployed and the rest of the Philippine population be directed productively.
In her piece, “Cardboard Justice and the Failure of the Filipino Imagination,” Tracy Llanera asked: “What is at stake in engaging it is the analysis of social paradoxes that are deeply ingrained in the Filipino psyche. One common paradox is this: how can so many Filipinos valorize religiosity, go to Sunday mass and recite their Thou Shalt Not’s, and at the same time support the death penalty and the murder of alleged criminals without due process? How can their religious and political beliefs accommodate these glaring inconsistencies?”
As reported by Manila Bulletin, former Senator Atty. Joey D. Lina Jr. said, “Summary executions, whether by lawmen or lawless elements, are no different from murders and assassinations which are heinous crimes. If government is indeed bent on curbing criminality and the disastrous effects of the drug menace, law enforcers ought to exert the same zealousness used against drug pushers and users in going after those responsible for extrajudicial killings. Otherwise, pronouncements on adherence to rule of law will be viewed as mere lip service.”
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Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D. writes a weekly column for Asian Journal, called “Rhizomes.” She has been writing for AJ Press for 9 years now. She contributes to Balikbayan Magazine. Her training and experiences are in science, food technology, law and community volunteerism for 4 decades. She holds a B.S. degree from the University of the Philippines, a law degree from Whittier College School of Law in California and a certificate on 21st Century Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a participant in NVM Writing Workshops taught by Prof. Peter Bacho for 4 years and Prof. Russell Leong. She has travelled to France, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Mexico and 22 national parks in the US, in pursuit of her love for arts.