TURNING POINT: The Noose Is Tightening

NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 25 October) — The Quad Committee has submitted its partial report to the Office of the Solicitor General and the National Bureau of Investigation for them to investigate and file cases against those responsible for the massive extra-judicial killing (EJK) in the furtherance of the ignominious drug war of the Duterte administration.

The noose is now getting tighter around the necks of Senator Ronald “Bato” De La Rosa, and former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Bato was Duterte’s Philippine National Police chief, who executed the drug war following his concocted Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Double Barrel.

Oplan Tokhang persuaded petty street drug pushers and drug users to surrender peacefully to the authorities with the ultimate aim of wiping them out of the barangay. This was fighting the war on the demand side. Oplan Double Barrel, on the other hand, fought the drug war on the supply side, targeting drug lords or suppliers.

The pursuit of the drug war employing the above modus snuffed the lives of thousands of so-called drug personalities on the ground, including those that figured as high-value targets in the pernicious lists of Digong Duterte. The earlier lists of Duterte were not validated by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA).  Accordingly, said lists include political enemies or politicians who did not support his run for the presidency, the like of Iloilo City Mayor Jed Mabilog.

Senator Leila De Lima, who investigated the Davao Death Squad, in her capacity then as Chair of the Commission on Human Rights, escaped the vengeful axe of Duterte but languished in jail for seven years on trumped up charges.

To boost and make the drug war efficiently conducted nationwide the Davao template or model had to be adopted where the police would be rewarded for every drug personality killed. Depending on the stature of the target, the reward would be from P20,000 to as much as P1 million.

The strategy worked well. The PDEA, on January 30, 2021, reported that from July 1, 2016, to December 31, 2020, 6,011 died during anti-drug operations. Human rights watchers estimated 20,000-30,000 victims.

The highly planned extermination of lives with such a large number of victims makes it a crime against humanity. The International Criminal Court is now investigating this phenomenon. If tried, and convicted, the guilty will be detained in isolation at The Hague. For some, however, justice is satisfying if the cases are heard and resolved in our domestic courts, and we witness the criminals rot in our jails.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)