TURNING POINT: Hooked in the Mouth

NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 16 March) — Former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) may be convicted by heavy evidence of his own making. This refers to his vitriolic public pronouncement on his rapacious drug on war. He would be hooked in his big mouth.

For instance, on Tuesday, April 17, 2017, Duterte welcomed a returning group of overseas Filipino workers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by telling them, “If you lose your job, I’ll give you one. Kill all the drug addicts.” “Let us kill drug addicts every day.”  

Hiring the unemployed to kill criminal suspects is utterly perverse and unconscionable.

Duterte’s exhortation for vigilante killings came as no surprise. He had made repeated calls on the public to kill drug addicts as part of his anti-drug campaign. On June 30, 2017, he instructed the Philippine public, “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful.” These calls could constitute criminal incitement to commit murder.

He had also repeatedly called for the Philippine National Police to target suspected drug users and drug dealers with extrajudicial violence, which could be considered instigating law enforcement to commit murder.

Duterte also made a stunning admission on Sept. 28, 2018, telling government executives the only “sin” he was guilty of was “extrajudicial killings.” 

This was the first time that Duterte admitted to extrajudicial killings by Philippine authorities, which could add weight to the official complaints against him that are currently before the ICC.

He did not elaborate on his comment, but human rights groups and domestic political opponents have consistently accused Duterte’s government of an overzealous “shoot first ask questions later” approach to anti-drug enforcement since he took office as president of the Republic, of which the casualty estimates appeared to be huge.

Human Rights Watch claims that at least 12,000 people have been killed since the crackdown began, of whom more than 4,000 were killed by security forces. 

Government estimates are even higher at around 20,000, though it appears no one surely knows the extent of the violence.

The majority of deaths have been attributed to unidentified gunmen and are categorized as homicides. Duterte has publicly encouraged citizens to take justice into their own hands, once declaring, “Do it yourself if you have the gun—you have my support.” The drug war has become a convenient way for private citizens and authorities to settle scores via vendetta killing.

On several occasions, the irrepressible Duterte has challenged the ICC to arrest him. The challenge was finally accepted which brought him to The Hague at no time at all.

The admirable trait of Mr. Duterte is that he walks his talk.

This same virtue caused a great number to fall by the wayside of dark and stinking alleys of impoverished communities.

 The time to account is about to begin. 

(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)