* This is my article in
BusinessWorld last September 27, 2016.
One of my friends, a respected economist and a fellow UP
School of Economics (UPSE) alumni, has criticized some policies of President
Duterte by posting her misgivings on her Facebook account.
Past 12 noon of Aug. 20, she was threatened with murder
while inside her car, together with her mother.
As she was struggling with traffic at the Holy Spirit
Drive in Quezon City, a man on foot whose head was covered by a jacket suddenly
appeared on her side. The man tapped his finger on her car window and shouted,
“Ma’am putang ina mo! Papatayin ka na namin!”
Shocked and scared, my friend put pedal to the metal and
hightailed it to UP Diliman, where she informed her friends and officemates.
She also wanted to report the incident that day to the police but did not,
since she knew no one personally there.
Take note that not all of her Facebook updates are
critical of the President.
Besides offering good words for the President’s past TV
and newspaper interviews, she also produced an international article supporting
his proposal to access Chinese official development assistance (ODA) but
improved on the proposal by de-emphasizing the bilateral mode and advising the
use of the multilateral Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB).
On the day she was threatened, she chose to deactivate
her Facebook account, which contained her critical comments regarding the
decision to allow Marcos to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, the
violent narcotics war, and extrajudicial killings.
My friend says that she and her family thought of the
threat as random “trip,” a prank; and that she and her mother were probably at
the wrong place and at the wrong time.
But they still took precautions and remained open to the
possibility that it was a serious and direct threat.
She did not use her car for several days and took Uber or
a taxi and changed her route almost daily, if only to try to avoid the area
where the threat was made.
Since she was never been into drugs, just a studious
student at UPSE (undergrad and graduate), the threat against her cannot be
viewed as anti-drugs but possibly as a threat against the critics of Duterte
policies.
Can we possibly conclude that this dirty “war on drugs”
has morphed into something more sinister like a “war on some critiques of the
government and its narco war policy?”
Here are some possibilities or conspiracy hypothesis that
can be derived from the above circumstances.
1. It was just a prank threat/attack on her by some
mentally unstable minds in the streets.
2. It was a serious threat, not from the government but
from some civilian fanatics of the President who dislike the idea that he is
being criticized.
3. It was a threat from the President’s political
opponents and/or drug cartels to target and scare civilians, to make the people
be scared of the Duterte government.
If it was #1, it remains scary because the President’s
mantra about the drug war -- that “it will be bloody” -- has been hanging upon
us since he won the May elections. Many of his supporters smell blood, they
want to see blood, more blood on the streets. Even the soldiers were recently
ordered by the President to kill by the dozens, to “massacre” a group of drug
criminals, whether guilty or suspected.
If it was #2, the more that she -- and others who take an
independent view of the President and his policies -- should be alarmed.
If it was #3, then the President’s warning has been
hijacked by various groups. Whether politically-motivated or just
crime-inspired. A theft-murderer can shoot and kill his victim/s that would
resist giving their valuables voluntarily, with a ready placard to be thrown at
the lifeless body saying “Pusher ako, ‘wag tularan.”
There is a common denominator to all the three (or more)
possibilities mentioned above. And that is the violent and bloody “war on
drugs” has become a “war on nerves” against many ordinary citizens. It is
confusing and is meant to confuse.
It does not matter now if the person who curses you and
says that he/they will murder you is a deranged man or not. The PNP is either
deep into drugs murder cases itself or unable to solve hundreds of such murders
from self-proclaimed vigilantes and fanatics, or plain criminal attacks.
Intolerance is acquiring its own momentum.
Another friend, a solid supporter of the President,
commented when I posted this incident in my Facebook wall.
He said: “Why can we not support him in his “war on
drugs” and do something about his crazy supporters instead? Why can we not help
address the flaws in his style of governance to help him succeed instead? Do we
not succeed too if we help him do so?”
Some good points there but I argued and commented the
following.
First, I do not believe in continued criminalization of
drugs. I believe that drugs, like alcohol, jueteng and other gambling, should
be legalized and decriminalized; allowed but regulated. It is the act of
murder, rape, theft, etc. -- whether the person is sober or under the influence
of drugs or alcohol -- that should be penalized. Also consider that a number of
violent crimes and murders occur when people are sober, like road rage,
disputes in parking, personal and clan disputes, and so on.
Second, keeping the “war on drugs” should be guided by
existing laws, the rule of law should prevail.
The police should first gather evidence, arrest drug
pushers and addicts on the basis of evidence, charge them in court and lock
them in jails if proven guilty. Drug possession of certain quantities is
non-bailable so the arrested pushers will be off the streets while due process
is ongoing.
The Filipina accused and convicted of being a drug
mule/courier in Indonesia, Mary Jane Veloso, got due process. She went through
trial, her side was heard and written, she was not killed and murdered
outright. That is the due process that the PNP is not known to be consistently
doing.
So has the “war on drugs” morphed into “war on critics of
President Duterte?” It seems that the answer is No. There are no big evidence
to prove this statement yet. And that is a good news. The bad news is that the
“war on drugs” remains a messy and violent one and created a new uncertainty,
the “war on nerves” on the people.
Assuring due process of all accused, respecting the rule
of law, that is the only assurance we have to remove these uncertainties and
fear in the hearts of ordinary citizens.
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the head of Minimal
Government Thinkers, and a Fellow of SEANET.
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See also:
A friend and an active Rotarian (I am an ex-Rotarian) Bruce Hall posted this in his fb wall:
