If there is one glaring attitude that was observed in the demeanor of former President Rodrigo Duterte when he appeared as a resource person before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee during its motu proprio legislative inquiry on the war on drugs and extrajudicial killings (EJK), it was that of someone utterly convicted and unremorseful for what he had done as president of the country.
By his own admission, ex President Duterte was more than forthcoming in revealing to the senators in attendance that he tried to do his best to address the problem of illegal drugs without compromise, although accepting that his drug war campaign was not perfect, and that there were many mistakes, and that, perhaps in pursuit of that campaign, crimes were committed.
In his opening statement during the preliminary inquiry by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, former President Duterte stated the following: “My mandate as President of the Republic was to protect the country and the Filipino people. Do not question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country. The war on illegal drugs is not about killing people; it is about protecting the innocent and the defenseless. The war on illegal drugs was about the eradication of illegal substances such as ‘shabu,’ cocaine, heroin, marijuana, party drugs, and the like, as a menace which ruins people, families, communities, and relationships, and tears apart the social fabric which binds society together in peace, harmony, and brotherhood.”
Those few sentences in the opening statement of former President Duterte at the start of the Blue Ribbon Committee investigation on the EJK and the war on drugs sum up the absolute and total conviction of Duterte in the way his war on drugs campaign was implemented, along with the collateral damage (the summary killings) that went with the campaign done by overzealous individuals, both in and out of government service.
He was not only unapologetic about the outcome of his war on drugs that claimed several hundreds or thousands of lives, but he also exonerated the actions of the authorities involved in the killing and death of people suspected to be involved in the drug trade without the benefit of trial in the courts, by stating, “I and I alone take full legal responsibility for all that the police did pursuant to my order. I will take responsibility, and I will be jailed, not the police who only followed my orders. What a pity, they were only doing their jobs.”
So here we have a former leader of the country who remains undaunted despite reports and testimonies showing that his anti-illegal drugs campaign was replete with incidents of violent abuse and killings which are against the law, and that somehow, by his words and even by his prodding, coupled with an alleged reward system, authorities or their agents were convinced to go beyond their sworn duties and functions and become his tools and instruments to lay waste against suspected sellers of illegal drugs, resulting in what is now known as extrajudicial killings (EJK).
Former President Duterte also admitted that he created a seven-man “death squad” when he was the former mayor of Davao City, and thus it can be surmised that this was the template he exported when he became president of the Philippines, but this time on a national level.
With all these admissions made by the former president, there should be nothing left for the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to investigate except perhaps to validate and prove the existence of a reward system that allegedly provides financial incentives to certain policemen and other individuals who had participated in operations that snuffed out the lives of suspected drug pushers, users, and other criminals without being brought to court during the administration of former President Duterte.
To the mind of this writer, there is no question that the war on drugs must continue if the country is to avoid becoming a narco-state, such as what is happening in other countries of the world where illegal drugs are prevalent in their societies. Having said that, even with Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Double Barrel still around, there should no longer be an instance where a mere suspected individual is killed or shot to death simply for being suspected of using or selling drugs.
To avoid this, the authorities, particularly the Philippine National Police (PNP) and even the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), should start adopting non-lethal weapons, such as tasers, batons, pepper spray, and perhaps even bean bag shotguns to apprehend suspects who do not submit to the authorities or assault officers. Apprehending authorities should also start wearing body cameras, as well as equip their vehicles with camcorders, whenever they go out to serve a warrant or arrest somebody.
Back to former President Duterte, his owning up to all that has happened in the war on drugs is already enough to prove that indeed, EJK happened during the war on drugs. The only challenge now, not only for the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee but also for other offices and agencies of the government, is how to proceed to unravel the tangled knot of the drug war operation that led to the killings and to make the perpetrators and others who plotted and planned with the former president liable and charged in court.
