The government’s unrelenting and unapologetic war on drugs has now taken center stage with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voting on July 11 to adopt the Iceland-led resolution that calls for a “comprehensive report” into the human-rights situation in the Philippines and to hold liable culprits of alleged abuses.
In its 41st regular session, 18 UNHRC members voted yes; 14, no, while 15 abstained.
Expectedly, President Rodrigo Duterte and his rabid administration subjects retaliated with insults, threats and intimidation to those who would “support” such action. Possible impeachment for Vice President Leni Robredo, jail time for dissenters, and directly threatening the countries that supported the UN body’s resolution with “far-reaching consequences,” including but not limited to cutting diplomatic ties with those nations. How the government will execute such action remains suspect, most especially because the Duterte official who invokes the latter would rather be known for his mastery of the English prose.
I find it absurd why a president, purportedly basking on a very high trust ratings based on recent polls, would be very insecure with his tenure. So sensitive has he been with his centerpiece program, war on drugs, that he turns ballistic whenever it is questioned here and in international fora. His mouth virtually froths like a mad dog spewing invectives and profanities, which his minions ape with abandon. Maybe deep within him, he fears that the so-called extra-judicial killings (EJK) allegedly perpetrated by state actors would ultimately be his waterloo.
VP Robredo urges the government to welcome the UNHRC probe because she rightfully says that if there’s nothing to hide, there’s nothing to be worried about. And for saying that, she could be impeached, according to Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission Commissioner Atty. Manuelito Luna. He later backtracked to say that he merely warned the VP so she could temper her statements. But why subject the VP with such veiled admonition as if she is about to commit a crime?
The purported EJK death toll varies depending on which side you’re on. But whether there is only one dozen or tens of thousands killed in this administration’s drug war is beside the point. The inviolability or sanctity of human life is what is at stake in all this.
It has been well documented by human rights groups and borne out by police records that there have been unintended casualties in Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, which the government merely dismisses as collateral damage. Records of children and those mistakenly killed have been increasing by the day. There seems to be no letup. After all, drug addicts (note: even those who are mere suspects), in Duterte’s eyes, are the dregs of society who do not deserve a second chance.
And yet, how many second chances have been given to big-time personalities who peddle drugs? They’ve been practically untouched and are still laughing all the way to the bank.
Just weeks before the UNHRC resolution, another child died, allegedly caught in a “cross fire” between the police and her father whom the police claimed used his daughter as a human shield. Sen. Ronaldo “Bato” dela Rosa could only mutter tongue-in-cheek that “shit happens.” Although he later apologized for his insensitive remark, the harm to the child and her family has been done. Three-year-old Myka Ulpina can never be brought back to life.
One then wonders if the police is capable of properly enforcing the rules on engagement, especially in operations where children are in the periphery. But then again, their president is forceful in his directive to cleanse the country of drug addicts, whatever it takes. Policemen are protected by the state, while their hapless, innocent victims have no means to protect themselves. Such is the reality in the streets.
The daily killing is slowly tearing apart the country’s moral fabric. The frequency by which it occurs is numbing. The public is being made to accept it as a normal way of life.
Let us all welcome the UNHRC probe. Hopefully, it would answer a lot of
questions, and possibly hold accountable those responsible. In it, we may have
a chance to prove that there are other options to solve the drug problem other
than killing; and that “shit” as dela Rosa says happens, is deplorable, and
matters in how we avoid it.
For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com