Viewpoint
When war rules
Luisa Morales
The War on Drugs is one of the most infamous projects of the Duterte administration by far since the former Davao mayor assumed position.
Even during his campaign period, President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed his hatred for drugs. His administration focuses largely on the drug problem in the country. President Duterte waged a full on war, urging police to fight harder against drugs and name dropping politicians who allegedly aid the drug trade; the so called “narco-politicians”.
The government launched numerous police operations and projects like Project Tokhang, where police visit houses for inspection of drug personalities.
The government’s efforts don’t go without reward, according to Rappler’s numbers on the drug war 32,005 drug personalities were arrested through Project Tokhang while 752,938 users and pushers surrendered.
However, a war doesn’t pass without casualties. There have been 1,418 drug-related killings all over the country since the start of the new administration; 358 of which were marked as “unidentified drug suspects” in the Inquirer’s Kill List.
The drug war has reached even the confines of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. Two drug suspects were killed in the campus on Sept. 25. The drug war contributes to the culture of fear inside communities, because almost every police encounter ends up with a “suspected” drug user or dealer dead.
Students and community members alike in UP are now in danger of being caught in between such police encounters; it creates an unsafe environment for people to move in especially since some students work for school until the wee hours of night.
With the gravity of killings related to the war against drugs, the public hears the same thing over and over again during the nightly newscast. Journa-
Just about anyone can be shot dead and have a cardboard placed beside the body claiming is a drug pusher or user.
Aside from the killings, it’s also important to note that majority of the killings are petty drug users and dealers who may have only been pushed into the industry because of need and poverty. The big dealers who supply the drugs to those killed are more or less running free, with no big players in the drug trade arrested so far.
Killing these petty drug users and pushers is like targeting pawns in a game of chess while letting the King and Queen go free. Although it is tactical in the game to eliminate the pawns, we must not forget that we are dealing with warm bodies and not wooden pieces.
If the administration is truly sincere in its war against the drug menace, the police should strive to take suspects alive in order to get information on bigger dealers as well as giving them a chance to be rehabilitated.
Many of these petty drug users and pushers were only pushed into the industry because of extreme poverty. It was like they had no choice; some drugs curb appetite and its effects last longer, therefore they wouldn’t need to eat.
Certain drugs also help keep the user awake longer than usual; thus making overtime and taking double shifts easier for workers.
To truly eliminate use of prohibited drugs in the country, the people need to stop labeling drug dependents as criminals rather than patients who need to be treated. After all, wars aren’t won just based on who killed more enemy soldiers.
As the public hear these reports everyday, a dangerous trend is created, making these killings seem normal. In neighborhoods, it has become common to talk about a somebody that was killed the night before.
There is a media theory which suggests that when people hear something on the news over and over again, they eventually become apathetic and indifferent.
Parents fear for the safety of their kids. A friend of mine told me stories about a family worrying about their 18 year-old son who was caught after curfew: “Natatakot kami na baka tinumba na siya ng pulis”.
The intention of the government to make the streets safer for Filipinos seemed to have the opposite effect. People are scared of walking the streets, the fear of being accused as a drug user or pusher and then killed on the spot constantly bearing them down.
What makes the killings even scarier is the fact that a relevant sum of the killings are victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs), which occurs when alleged drug users and pushers are killed vigilante style. Despite the investigations on these killings, nobody is yet to be accountable. EJKs disregard justice and due process. The victims aren’t given a chance to defend themselves.
Anybody can be a victim of EJK, after all how can we be so sure that those killed both by unknown gunmen and police were indeed related to the drug trade? We never hear the rest of the story, just an “alleged” pusher or user dead. End of story.
lists reporting a drug raid where a drug suspect was killed, or fell victim to a vigilante.
“Eh user ba talaga?” always seemed to be the question community members ask when somebody is killed near their community. It was as if killing a person is justified if the person used drugs.