On May 9, 2016, Rodrigo Duterte won the Philippines presidential election. His presidential platform strongly campaigned for a “no nonsense” policy against crime, especially drug dealers and drug users. Duterte promised to crackdown on the latter in particular. This reverberated very favorably with the citizens of the Philippines, with Duterte winning the election by a landslide.
However, ever since his inauguration on June 30, over 2000 people have lost their lives, a by-product of the current war on drugs. Many die extrajudicially, which means that they are killed without trial. This poses the question: should the human right to trial and to life be ignored when fighting against narcotics and the unwillingness to give up the addiction that come with it?
The actions taken by Duterte and his cabinet in order to curb this problem are shrouded in controversy. His questionable methods include killing suspected drug dealers before they are lawfully convicted of any crimes and, to be blunt, public executions. The streets of Manila and other urban areas are littered with the bodies of those murdered by the police.
However, there admittedly are some good changes that resulted from this no-nonsense policy. The Director-General of the Philippine National Police, Ronald dela Rosa, stated that crime rates had fallen by 49% since the President took office. Is the blatant disregard of human rights justified by a safer environment?
No, it is not. The drug problem, and crime in general, is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, but not in this way. Not in the way that UN officials very publicly deems inhumane and dictatorial.
“I [do not] know much about the ongoing problems in the Philippines, but I believe that [Duterte] is going too far,” begins an ISB student who wished to remain anonymous, “[I am] not sure if this much violence is really needed. [I am] not sure how [he is] getting away with this.”
Although drug dealers should be brought to justice, they should not be murdered in broad daylight. Criminals should not be killed without trial. Duterte’s regime brings forth a glaring overlook of the human right to trial, something that should never be supported.
This harsh opinion does not even take into account the rude and brash comments he has said to other high ranking officials. The ongoing list includes President Obama and the entire UN organization. This shows that Duterte has no boundaries whatsoever and is prone to rash and delinquent behavior, behavior that could eventually spill over into his job.
Although Duterte is a man of bark and bite, in my opinion, the actions he has thrusted upon his country once becoming president make for an inhumane and borderline psychopathic bite. Somehow, a president of a powerful country has the notion that human life is a mere commodity.
His regime has already claimed 2000 bodies, and even that number is steadily increasing. Duterte is a hypocrite who hides behind his presidential status from crimes that are worse than the felonies he condemns.
Poon Singhatiraj
Papito • Sep 26, 2016 at 9:20 am
Calling Duterte a hypocrite is also pretty hypocritical and ironic if you ask me. Duterte represents the 16 million filipino people who voted for him and if he’s considered a hypocrite, so are the 16 million who voted and placed their very trust on him to look over their country. The millions of Filipino people had to live through fear as the previous corrupt administrations and Presidents did nothing to tackle the drug problem down. Before Duterte was elected, drug-related crimes involved thousands of innocent people being killed. So let me ask you something, would you rather let the drug-related crimes proceed as the corrupt government officials (who were also allegedly involved in the drug trade) do absolutely nothing to take action causing dozens of innocent deaths each year or would you rather want a “borderline psychopathic” president who promised 16 million people that he will change the country by first suppressing the drug trade and killing all the druglords. While I do agree with you that the extrajudicial killings isn’t the best approach to handle the drug problem due to standard ethics and morals, the killings “may be a necessary evil in the pursuit of a greater good,” as a Filipino University professor once said.
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein
19352 • Sep 27, 2016 at 2:07 am
Thank you for your insight!
The area around when killings become inhumane is a grey one. The individual morality/beliefs of people now come into play. However, my opinion is that Duterte’s sheer lack of emotion when it comes to these extrajudicial killings and his outbursts of insults when questioned about his policies makes me nervous about what he could potentially do in the future.
But for now, I just wish that he would take into consideration the concerns various organizations have (such as the UN) instead of responding with insults and threats. A medium for both Duterte and his policies is quintessential for maintaining peace both domestically and internationally. Although the problem is being solved, the steps taken to do that is another problem all in itself.