DUTERTE’S LINKS
WITH NDF. The white paper made some serious allegations about
the reported Duterte’s links with the NDF.
Citing a report of what it described as a “credible source,” which had
“access” with NDF-Mindanao, it said Duterte was “inducted as a member of the NDF’s
National Council.” It alleged that it was Evasco, who brokered Duterte’s entry
into the NDF in July, 2010. At that time, Duterte was mayor of Davao City.25
The white paper alleged: “The induction of Duterte in the NDF National Council was effected (sic) during the NDF’s 12th National Conference held at the Conference Hall of the Brokenshire Hospital in Davao City.
“The NDF Conference, while in session, is the acknowledged policy-making body of the NDF, with the Party (CPP) dominating the NDF and in-charge of directing and controlling the political and military struggle to overthrow or take over the state and to seize political power. The NDF is defined, according to its Constitution, as an alliance of all patriotic and progressive organizations adhering to its Constitution and Program. It fosters unity among the allied organizations. This definition clearly commits deception, since the majority of members of NDF governing organs are actually CPP members. Moreover, in Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory, any national democratic person or organization, to be accredited as such, has to accept the leadership of the Marxist-Leninist Party (the Communist Party of the Philippines) and the latter’s absolute control over the people’s army (the NPA).”
It was believed that the white paper had acknowledged what could be described as a de facto coalition between the Duterte government and the CPP-NPA-NDF. How the militarist faction within the Duterte government has outmaneuvered the leftist faction in the first three years of his government could be viewed as a lesson in political dynamics and behavior, or a subject for future research works. Nonetheless, it could be perceived that both the left and right wing factions within the Duterte government had attempted to use Duterte’s war on drugs to advance their respective political agenda In the ensuing political dynamics, the military faction has appeared to have gained the advantage, as Duterte himself eased out the perceived leftwing elements in his government, effectively ending the tactical coalition between his government and the NDF. The rightwing elements had effectively brought Duterte to its fold.26
***
HUMILIATION AND VIOLENCE
THE war on drugs, which Rodrigo Duterte had unleashed, took a big bang on the first day of his incumbency. Days passed without any report of persons, who were killed in alleged violent encounters and police operations – or rubouts, plain and simple. A Filipino scholar argued that the anti-drug war was premised on humiliation and violence. It was no different from the same anti-drug war, which Duterte used in Davao City as its erstwhile mayor. Hong-Kong-based Andres Reyes, a former journalist, said in a published article on the early years of his presidency:
“Duterte’s message in his war on drugs is clear: Criminals can be humiliated and killed in order to protect law-abiding and God-fearing Filipinos.”
Reyes said Duterte came out with a list containing names of users and pushers purportedly to shame and humiliate those involved in drug trade. He said: “This is the same method Duterte used in Davao City when he revealed the names of suspected drug dealers and users in radio and television shows, telling them to stop their illegal activities. The police would then visit the houses of persons on the list, known in Cebuano as “Tokhang” (tok-tok [knock], hangyo [request]). The police and the military would then speak to the person and his family members and warn them to stop selling and using drugs. This was, and is, often a prelude to killings. In Davao, many of those killed in police operations and vigilante killings were persons on the list. Why should they be killed? Duterte implies drug addicts are not human and criminals have no place in society. The police, using entrapment operations, search the houses of suspects and question them for ignoring their warnings. If the suspected individuals fight with the policemen or “nanlaban”, they can be killed in the process.”
In his article, Reyes advanced the thesis that in Duterte’s war on drugs, the victims’ bodies were “political artifacts” sought to embody and deliver what he described “the message of violence.” He said: “The individuals who were humiliated and killed in Duterte’s war on drugs were alleged criminals who were neither investigated nor convicted for the crimes they were supposed to have committed. The ‘spectacle’ in the war on drugs is distinct because the violence inflicted on the body of criminals is perpetrated by both state and non-state actors. The supposed criminals were punished by the state’s coercive apparatus (the police and the military) and … (vigilantes and hired killers) before their guilt was established. The sovereign in the Philippine political system is the people, who are personified by Duterte as the chief executive. Therefore, there is political value in this spectacle in punishing criminals, by humiliating and killing them, and this punishment outside the ordinary legal process has political meaning to it. A common feature in the practice of punishing criminals is the use of the body as material to impose discipline as well as a vehicle to carry political messages.”
According to Reyes, the humiliation and violent deaths of drug criminals were designed to elicit “credible threats” to the public. Hence, those who violated the law have actually been punished. The killing of criminals in police operations, public spaces, and in their homes makes Duterte’s threats “very real,” deterring violators of the law. The humiliation of supposed criminals by labeling their bodies to say they are criminals could be interpreted as “objectification of the body.” Reyes said: “It reduces the body to an object as a vehicle to carry political messages. In the war on drugs, this is done first, through official listing of drug dealers, users and criminals, and revealing their names in public; and second, by encouraging their killing, and then humiliating those friends and relatives left behind by placing placards identifying them as criminals who deserved to have been killed.”
‘COMMODIFICATION.’ According to Reyes, this phenomenon, citing a scholar, is a form of violence that lead to what is termed the “commodification of the body by turning it into political text.” He said: “Those who lived at the margin – the poor, and the criminals whom Duterte calls living in ‘low-lives’ – have their bodies made into text by placing placards on them and parading them in public and on marking their corpses when they are killed.”
Citing another scholar, Reyes described the use of the body as a “spectacle of violence.” This leads to the concept of the “politicization of life,” citing Duterte’s penchant to declare whose life has and does not have value. He said:
“The Philippine president divides Filipinos into two groups: the drug dealers, addicts and criminals – who are seen as violent law breakers, dangers to social welfare and obstructions to economic development – and law-abiding and God-fearing persons, who are viewed as victims of violence, the human resources for economic development, and the basis of the well-being of future generations. Duterte has been explicit about the need to eliminate the first group in order to protect the second.”
Reyes cited Nazi Germany’s experience in which the Nazi regime decided on the extermination of the Jews, and the incurably ill, adding that the moment “a political decision is reached, mass killings of those whose lives are now declared to have no value, become inevitable.” Reyes said: “Duterte is popular because of the clarity of his message about who can be killed: drug lords, drug addicts and criminals, preferably men, habitual criminals and drug addicts who repeatedly went into rehabilitation but were never cured.”
***
THE UGLY FACE OF WAR ON DRUGS
ALTHOUGH the war on drugs unofficially started even before Rodrigo Duterte took over as president, its ugly face immediately surfaced. For the first two years of his presidency, a big percentage of the Philippine National Police, as an institution, focused on the implementation of the Project Double Barrel and its twin components: Oplan Tokhang and Oplan High Value Targets. It was estimated that about 85% of the total PNP total force in Metro Manila alone worked on this anti-drug project in the first six months of Duterte’s incumbency.
According to the white paper, the “unlawful order” to pursue the war against drugs through summary executions of drug users, pushers, and wholesalers was delegated by Duterte to PNP director-general Gen. Ronald dela Rosa. The unlawful order cascaded to Police Regional Officers (PROs), Police Provincial Offices (PPOs), City Police Offices (CPOs), Municipal Police Offices (MPOs), and Police Community Precincts (PCPs). The white paper alleged Metro Manila police officials were “blindly obeying” the unlawful order but said the obedience could be due to several motivations. It said:
“For the Regional Directors, there are motivations for taking part in EJK, both linked with fear that they would be relieved from their positions. First, these positions provide them opportunities to earn money and fast cash through sources of illegal gambling. Second, these positions give them access to a percentage of the Monthly Operating Expenses (MOE) budget regularly released to them. These two motivations are those of Police Regional Commanders, who are due to retire in two years’ time.
“For Police Officers from the middle to the lower ranks, (Police Chief Inspector to Police Inspector), the motivation to go along with EJK is anchored on: first, the fear to be relieved of one’s post; and second, careerism.”
The white paper clarified that not all police officers agreed with Duterte’s anti-drug war. Although the police officers have yet to show palpable indications of any semblance of opposition to the war on drugs, it said: “Most PNP officers and personnel reject the killing of drug users. However, they overwhelmingly approve the eradication of drug pushers thru EJKs. Regarding long-term performance, police officers, who are deeply involved in EJK operations would be surely sloppy on criminal investigation.”
The white paper also denied any killing by vigilante groups, saying: “Killing by vigilante forces is definitely non-existent. It is PNP operatives riding in tandem, who carry out EJK. Although there are several thugs who are police assets used for EJK operations, these thugs serve as collectors, informants, or auxiliaries, and are provided with budgetary funds to defray their expenses. They cannot be classified as vigilantes.”
***
GLOBAL DIMENSION OF DRUG TRADE
DISCUSSIONS of illegal drug trade would not be complete without mention of its global dimension. While globalization has triggered freer trade and better communications among interdependent trading countries, its dark side has loomed, as shown by the rise of illicit drug trade over the last four or five decades, encompassing the four main stages of economic activity – cultivation, production, transshipment and distribution to various points of consumption. Their cultivation, production, and transport have transcended national boundaries, becoming a multi-billion dollar industry. Drug syndicates are ever present in every continent except Antarctica. Estimates vary on its magnitude, from a low of US$500 billion to a high of almost a trillion US dollars. Drug syndicates have formed multinational alliances to ensure free flow of illegal drugs.
Illegal drugs like cocaine are cultivated and produced in the South American forests in countries like Colombia and Venezuela. Methamphetamine, or “shabu” are produced in laboratories in China, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, among others. Marijuana leaves are grown and processed in the forests in Myanmar, Thailand, Central Asia, and South America. Opium and its derivatives like heroin are grown and produced in the “Golden Crescent,” or the mountainous peripheries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and “Golden Triangle,” or the overlapping mountain areas in Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. West Africa is also pinpointed as another source of illegal substances. An intricate web of couriers and illegal traders transport them, using every conceivable means of transshipment including mules, or human carriers.
Drug trafficking is the most problematic aspect of illicit drug trade. Most countries have adopted strong anti-drug policies to stop illegal drugs from entering their boundaries. These nations have involved their police and military forces to seize illegal drugs. Violence is the usual result of clashes between illegal drug traders and law enforcers. Deaths and injuries for either side are the common occurrence of the drug trade. Smuggling is the usual recourse for the forcible entry of illegal drug substances into the market. Many countries have come out with multilateral accords to stop drug trade. The first pact is the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which was approved in 1961; second, Convention on Psychotropic Drugs, in 1971; and third, United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, in 1988. Experts have described these multilateral agreements as “marginal” to stop illicit drug trade.
The use of illegal drugs took a high profile mainly as a countercultural reaction to the political ferment of the 1960s and 1970s. At first, the consumption level was largely recreational, but emerging drug syndicates took the demand seriously, triggering regional and, later, global trade. The emerging consumption pattern has caused the rise of drug syndicates, which catered to the needs of a new class of users, or addicts. Demand for illegal drugs has been described as inelastic mainly because of the addictive property of most illegal substances. The classic law of demand and supply does not seem to apply. Drug prices have no consequences for users. Their main preoccupation is their availability in the market.
A noteworthy quality that distinguishes drug trade from other industries is that drugs are illegal. Most countries have made their cultivation, production, distribution, and consumption a criminal activity, which is punishable under their laws. Hence, an underground market exists to cater to their users. The risk of imprisonment has made illegal drugs expensive in the market. Drug syndicates have to avoid detection. In most cases, they have to bribe the law enforcers to turn a blind eye on their illegal activity. By rule of the thumb, illegal drugs, upon reaching their market destinations, are priced at least 300% of their original priced.
Illegal drug trade has grown by leaps and bounds over the last four or five decades. Although its magnitude is difficult to discern because of its illegal nature, its estimated annual value of at least US$500 billion, which is on the low side, is comparable to Switzerland’s economy. It has an estimated 200 million users worldwide, representing 3% of the world population.
UNIVERSAL LEGALIZATION. Amid the chaos and violence emanating from illicit drug trade, scholars have proposed its universal legalization, which is essentially revolutionary in a sense. Matthew Jenner, in a published paper, said: “Every week, hundreds of people are murdered in incidents directly related to trafficking. While several global efforts to end the drug trafficking problem have occurred, they have yielded only marginal success. Still, forty years later, one strategy has yet to be fully tested: universal legalization. Although counterintuitive at first glance, legalization could provide a successful framework for destabilizing the global market and solving the drug trafficking problem”
Jenner argued that the globalization of the world economy has likewise fostered underground market for arms trade and human trafficking for prostitution and slavery. But the illicit drug trade has created the network that could reach US$500 in its net worth. Jenner said: “The most efficient way to affect the global market is to legalize drugs, as prohibition acts as a catalyst in building up the market. It attracts criminals, incentivizes violence, and makes the drug trade one
of the most profitable industries in the world.
Universal legalization would reverse these trends. It would take the profits
out of the industry and put a stop to violent trafficking, possibly ending the
drug trade as we know it.”
Jenner continued: “The concept of legalization entails legalizing every aspect of the drug trade, from production to consumption, worldwide. The immediate benefit of legalization would be a reduction in the violence associated with the drug trafficking aspect of the trade. Prohibition creates the opportunity for self-help violence in the drug trade by driving the market underground. Legalization would create a legitimate market for drugs, allowing conflicts to be settled in courts of law and attracting commendable market players rather than criminals, much like what happened after the prohibition of alcohol ended in the United States in the 1930s.”
ENDNOTES
1. For
purposes of discussions in this book, illegal drugs refer largely to the most
popular illegal drugs in the Philippines: methamphetamine, meth or “shabu” and
marijuana. The third illegal drug, Ecstasy tablet, or
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), has gained acceptance and popularity.
Meth is an upper drug that is called the “poor man’s cocaine.” They are
normally sold in sachets by illegal street vendors or pushers. Ecstasy is
mainly a high end party pill. Read:
https://www.cfr.org/interview/human-rights-and-dutertes-war-drugs.
2. Rodrigo
Duterte of PDP–Laban Party garnered 16,6 million votes, or 39% of the 42.6
million voters who cast their ballots. He won over Mar Roxas of Liberal Party
(nearly 10 million votes, or 23.5%); Grace Poe, independent (9,1 million votes,
or 21.4%); and Jejomar Binay, United Nationalist Alliance (5,4 million votes,
or 12.7%) Shortly after he won the presidency, Duterte, the braggadocio, was
quoted as saying in one of his public addresses: "Forget the laws on human
rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as
mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men, and do-nothings, you better go out.
Because I'd kill you," he said at his final campaign rally. "I'll
dump all of you into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there."
3. The
war on drugs is nothing but a war on the poor. In sharp contrast, Leni Robredo,
Duterte’s vice president, who ran and won under the Liberal Party, could only
give a token opposition to his staunch war on drugs. While saying that human
rights represented “the core of the nation’s soul,” she did not openly oppose
Duterte’s position. She was feeling her way as an opposition leader. Read:
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/26/16/vp-leni-backs-duterte-human-rights-core-of-ph-soul;
https://theglobalobservatory.org/2016/08/philippines-duterte-drugs-extrajudicial-killing-tokhang/.
An equally engaging reading:
https://www.cfr.org/interview/human-rights-and-dutertes-war-drugs
4. Read:
https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=210614-prosecutor-statement-philippines.
This link will help:
https://www.economist.com/asia/2016/09/15/the-human-toll-of-the-philippines-war-on-drugs
5. The
complete text of Duterte’s inaugural address : https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2016/06/30/inaugural-address-of-president-rodrigo-roa-duterte-june-30-2016/
6. ICJ’s
letter to Duterte in full:
https://www.icj.org/philippines-icj-sends-letter-to-president-dutertre-expressing-concern-over-wave-of-killings/
7. The
Philippine government adopted this recommendation, but it came quite belatedly
in 2020. It involved a sample of 52 cases. The Human Rights Watch, in its 2021
Report, said: ‘The Department of Justice, which announced, in June 2020, the
creation of a panel to review deaths in the “drug war” attributed to police
officers, said, in September 2021, that it was now investigating 52 cases
involving 154 police officers implicated in questionable killings. This
followed its admission before the UN Human Rights Council, in February, that
officers failed to follow protocols during these operations. In many cases,
police made no effort to examine allegedly recovered weapons, verify ownership,
or conduct ballistic examinations. In most of the cases the Department of
Justice reviewed, police also failed to follow standard protocols in the
coordination of drug raids and in the processing of crime scene evidence.”
Read:
https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/media_2022/01/World%20Report%202022%20web%20pdf_0.pdf
8. Read:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/8/8/rodrigo-duterte-i-dont-care-about-human-rights
9. Read:
https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/08/07/duterte-names-narcopoliticians-judges.html
10. https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Philippines-EJK-debate-Advocacy-Analysis-Brief-2016-ENG.pdf
11. Read:
https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1145101/download; Also read: Duterte
need to be stopped on his drug war:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jan/05/rodrigo-dutertes-drug-war-in-the-philippines-is-out-of-control-he-needs-to-be-stopped
12. Read:
https://www.rappler.com/nation/176597-sona-2017-duterte-chr-ombudsman/;
include: Drug on war not
wasted://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/01/25/2156324/palace-war-drugs-not-wasted-opportunity;
Duterte threatens human rights community:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/18/philippines-duterte-threatens-human-rights-community
13. Read:
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/07/25/1721639/rody-cant-abolish-chr-without-amending-constitution
14. In
Duterte’s war on drugs, members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo were reported to have
enjoyed certain immunity from police attacks. Drug war targets, who shouted
they were INC members, were spared by raiding police officers. In certain
instances, they shouted they were members of SCAN, INC’s paramilitary unit, and
survived. Read:
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/09/13/1738719/who-moved-give-chr-budget-p1000
15. Critics,
including Sonny Trillanes, pointed out that police officers have a different
understating of the word “neutralization.” It meant outright death for the
social offenders.
16. There
are little discussions about the extent of penetration into the Philippines of
the Mexican drug cartel led by the Sinaloan drug cartel, which used to be headed
by the high profile drug lord named Joaquin de Guzman, or popularly known as
“El Chapo.” The Netflix drama series “El Chapo” has a scene, showing an
official of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), who cited a report, where
the Sinaloan drug cartel had established presence in Asian countries, including
the Philippines. It did not elaborate. Sinaloa is a mountainous Mexican region,
which is mainly on the Pacific side.
17. Operation
Double Barrel has two components: Oplan Tokhang and Oplan High Value Target.
Oplan Tokhang is a portmanteau of ―toktok and ―hangyo the Visayan terms for
knock and plead. Tokhang is nominally one aspect of the Duterte campaign, but
has become largely synonymous to the drug war. As such, colloquially
―na-tokhang means to be a killed, arrested, or in any way affected by the ―war
on drugs. Oplan High Value Target includes operations to net high-value and
street-level targets involved in the trade of illegal drugs like “buy-bust”
operations (our version of sting operations), and serving search and arrest
warrants to arrest them and their drugs.
18. Duterte
has a special term for those police officers involved in drug-related
shenanigans: “Ninja Cops.”
19. Informants,
who declined to be identified, told the author that certain police officers,
out of misplaced enthusiasm, went out of bounce by summarily executing
smalltime users and pushers. The number of those killed between one and a month
before Duterte took his oath could not be determined because statistics of the
EJK victims were on a monthly or quarterly basis. Police officers did it
because the concept of Oplan Tokhang, as earlier practiced in Davao City, was
the prevailing mode even before Duterte took his oath. The barangay captain,
who served as my informant, said Duterte gave a go-signal to start those EJKs
even when he was not yet the president.
20. Certain
police officers whom the author met admitted they went on schooling to avoid
involvement in the war on drugs.
21. The
existing anti-drug laws treat the users and pushers differently. They liberally
take the users as victims. But they are harsh on pushers, taking them as most
responsible and believing they are the main players in the drug trade.
Duterte’s statements that drug users have become useless because drug use has
cooked their brains seemed to have affected police officers in the conduct of
the anti-drug campaign.
22. The
white paper somehow includes some details about the purported participation of
infiltration by the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines through its
political arm, the National Democratic Front (NDF), in the war on drugs. It
advanced the earlier theory that Duterte was once an NDF member.
23. Deceit
was applied by Duterte, his minions, and the PNP. Many drug users, traders, and
runners were enticed to surrender. Once their identities were known by village
(barangay) officials, they were chased and summarily executed. Vigilante groups also chased and killed them.
Read: https://www.rappler.com/nation/list-reports-documentation-rodrigo-duterte-drug-war-killings/
24.https://web.archive.org/web/20211005025425/https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/91769/Business/Evasco-leads-Kilusang-Pagbabago-launch
25. The
context of the bloody drug war is discussed by outgoing ICC Chief Prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda in her report to the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber on June 14, 2021, or
a day before she officially retired as Chief Prosecutor. Her report provides a
context why the ICC should conduct formal investigation on Duterte’s war on
drugs. For details, read:
26. https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2021_05381.PDF
27. https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/18/philippines-duterte-https://web.archive.org/web/20201203224540/https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/kilusang-pagbabago-duterte-evasco
treatens-human-rights-community
Read also these links:
https://theasiadialogue.com/2017/04/20/dutertes-ambiguous-strategy-against-the-cpp-npa-ndf/
https://thediplomat.com/2017/05/is-the-philippines-duterte-really-a-leftist/
28. Jenner,
Matthew S. (2011) "International Drug Trafficking: A Global Problem with a
Domestic Solution,"Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies: Vol. 18 : Iss.
2 , Article 10. Link at:
https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls/vol18/iss2/10
REFERENCE:
Reuters Series on Duterte’s War on Drugs
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-duterte-hitlists/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-duterte-data/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-duterte-police/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-duterte-autopsy/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-drugs-china/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-davao-model/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-duterte-photos/
Human Rights Watch Report of 2022:
https://d-nb.info/1124904387/34
“If You Are Poor, You Are Killed: Extrajudicial
Executions in the Philippines ‘War on Drugs’,” Report on the Philippines by
Amnesty International
http://fileserver.idpc.net/library/philippines_ejk_report_v19_final_0.pdf
“License to Kill” Philippine Killings on Duterte’s “War on Drugs: by Human Rights Watch
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