Philippine Roman Catholic leader condemns president Duterte's tactics in drug war

President Rodrigo Deterte is continuing his aggressive tactics as part of his war on drug dealers. He has just put out a list of officials that he claims are linked to the drug trade.

The names include members of Congress, military officers, and judges. One of those named was former Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama. Rama said :

 "The news that my name was mentioned by President Duterte is saddening. Even how untrue this accusation is, should this be the way and the necessary step to win the war against drugs, I will fully cooperate with the authorities to immediately clear my name and we trust that we will be given the opportunity to present our side and prove our innocence. My unwavering support for President Duterte's campaign will continue.

Nevertheless Duterte claims that the names on the list had been validated and re-validated.

While police claim that more than 500,000 people have surrendered to local authorities and pledged to stop using illegal drugs many are extremely critical of Duterte's methods which involve an order to "shoot to kill." Duterte claims he is waging a war and is invoking the laws of war. In a statement Saturday Duterte said that he would keep his "shoot to kill order" until the last day of his term if he was still alive by then. He also said that he did not believe in human rights. In a recent meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry, he said he refused to discuss the issue of human rights with him. Instead he said he had a job to do and asked for financial assistance.

Rodrigo Duterte has plenty of experience in politics as he was a popular mayor of the city Davao in the far south of the island of Mindanao for more than 22 years. He is the first Phiippine president from Mindanao. Although he was infamous for supporting extra-judicial killing of drug dealers and habitual users, he also promoted other ways of controlling drug use:Though vocally supportive of the extra-judicial killings of habitual drug users and dealers, Duterte used city government funds to build a ₱12-million drug rehabilitation and treatment center which provides 24-hour services. In 2003, he offered a ₱2,000 monthly allowance to drug addicts who personally approached him and committed to kick the habit.Duterte won a landslide victory in the presidential election in May and took office for a term of six years. Among his supporters are the Maoist New People's Army who have been waging guerrilla warfare against Philippine governments for half a century now. They hope to reach some type of peace agreement with him.

However, the unbridled unabashed defence of extra-judicial killing of criminals by Duterte, especially those involved in the drug trade, has outraged many including the Archbishop Socrates Villegas of the Roman Catholic Church. Since Duterte took power about 800 people have been killed. In a homily this Sunday, Villegas condemned the latest killings he said:"I am in utter disbelief. If this is just a nightmare, wake me up and assure me it is not true. This is too much to swallow. From a generation of drug addicts, shall we become a generation of street murderers?"Villegas is president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. Executive director Yury Fedotov of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime also expressed concern about the extrajudicial killing of drug dealers in the Philippines.

By Sunday local television reported that five mayors and three vice mayors from Mindanao denied Duterte's allegations but surrendered to police. One of judges on the list has been dead for eight years.

Philippines: Arroyo names self anti-Drug Czar.

This is from the newspaper Malaya.

As usual Malaya does not treat poor Arroyo kindly! It is not clear how making herself the anti-drug czar will boost her ratings. She could do that best by resigning! As the article notes Arroyo herself can hardly evade responsibility for the failings of her drug enforcers in the first place.



Anti-drug czar?
Editorial

‘They are not funny and are not meant to be.’
Gloria Arroyo has named herself as anti-drug following allegations that state prosecutors have accepted bribes from arrested drug traffickers. It is a gesture signifying nothing or of it means anything at all, an admission of her very own failure.
We cannot but suspect it is a PR stunt intended to shore up her approval ratings which have been long searching for the bottom. Gloria clearly wants to ride the wave of outrage over the coddling of traffickers by the very officials sworn to lead the fight against the drug scourge. At the same time, she is seeking to absolve herself of responsibility for her administration’s sorry record in the war against drugs.
In naming herself anti-drug czar, she said: "We should not allow this menace to spread its tentacles, ruin our youth and gnaw on the integrity of our law enforcement institutions and our judicial systems. No other criminal activity does a better and faster job of tearing apart the social and security fabric of a nation than the trade of illegal drugs."
Well said. But where has she been all these years when agencies mandated with waging the war of drugs have been sleeping on the job or, worse, playing footsies with the enemy if we are to believe the latest accusations against policemen, narcotics operatives, prosecutors and judges?
As president, she has control of all the executive departments, bureaus and offices. She appoints all the heads of offices as well as the members of the court. In the case of the Department of Justice and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the two agencies now at the center of the controversy, she personally picked the people leading these agencies.
Take Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez. It is no secret his health has been failing, precisely the reason the Palace has packed sub-Cabinet DOJ positions with its own men. The failure of leadership ultimately should be blamed on Arroyo.
The PDEA? It has become a sinecure for Gloria’s favorite retired generals who also have the habit of bringing their own sets of favorites with them. It is no wonder that PDEA operatives – if we are to believe prosecutors – hardly have any idea on how to conduct arrests and searches that would stand up in court.
We can already hear the jokes about Gloria as anti-drug czar. They have something to do with the sharing of the reputed billions at the drug lords’ liberal disposal. They are not funny and are not meant to be.