Special Issue Brief: Rodrigo Duterte’s Persistent ‘War on Drugs’
The Initiative
On May 8, 2016, the day before Rodrigo Duterte was elected into office, he stood in front of a crowd of more than 300,000 people and said: “If I make it to the presidential palace I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup men, and do-nothings, you better get out because I'll kill you” (Duterte, Human Rights Watch; 2019). This notion was the foundation on which he ran his political agenda, he vowed to get rid of all petty and serious drug offenders that were selling and trafficking narcotics into and out of the Philippine Islands. This War on Drugs is not a new idea, just as he elucidates in that quote. In accordance with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), illegal drugs and distribution have been Duterte’s central focus since his time as mayor in Davao City. Fighting drugs and drug-related crime has shown the public and his administration the low cost and high return of pushing an extensive war on the national drug trade (Timberman, CEIP; 2019). This dangerous battle has complimented Duterte’s status because it has tended to be accepted by most of the socioeconomic sections of society, especially because most of the drug war’s victims have been the urban-poor who are looked down upon, to begin with. This is a political issue that spans far beyond political spectrums in that it alternatively offers an efficient and useful political narrative that which Duterte now solely possesses in discourse that persuades the people of his country about the danger posed by drug dealers and other drug-affiliated criminals.
“Duterte not only successfully established crime as the most pressing problem, but also made the unconditional fight against this threat into a hallmark of a comprehensive “we” group. Given the assumed absoluteness of the evil to be combated, any criticism of the president has been silenced. Detractors are suspected of being supporters of the criminal threat to society, and any reference to due process can be ignored”
-Peter Kreuzer (German Researcher of CEIP; January 2019)
Statistical Facts and Deduction
For quick reference and surface level understanding, the Filipino war on drugs has racked up some serious statistics since its fruition a little over two years ago. In the year 2016, 28,000 drug arrests were made – a 44% increase from the year before – and a little over 47,000 drug-related cases were filed. In 2017, those statistics drastically increased. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency executed 34,744 drug enforcement tasks concluding in 66,672 arrests and roughly 70,000 drug-related cases being filed (Timberman, CEIP; 2019). A statement by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Corrections, it cited that in 2017 alone the national prison system occupied 41,500 inmates, close to doubling the facility’s capacity. One year later, in 2018, another statement released by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology reported data showing that there were over 141,000 detainees (70% of which were drug-related cases) who were held in jails that were 582% overcapacity (Timberman, CEIP; 2019). These numbers only tally those that have survived the situation. What these stats do not include are the thousands of people, innocent or criminal, who have perished in firefights with authorities or that have simply been murdered in cold blood. Over 12,000 people to date have been killed as a result of Duterte’s War on Drugs campaign. Only about a third of the 12,000 killed have been credited to gunfights with the Philippine National Police (Human Rights Watch; 2019). That means 75% of the murder committed has been done out by drug trafficking criminal associates or government-sponsored vigilantes who are protected under Duterte’s ‘Extra-Judicial Killings’ statute. “Extra-Judicial Killings’ (EJK) is a term that provides an alibi for any killing done to silence Duterte’s opposition and ‘fake-news’ spreading journalists.
Social Acceptance
Senior officials of Duterte’s administration have antagonized and incited this violence in the presidential campaign as it flirts with an epidemic of crimes against humanity. As a result, he blames the death toll on what he calls “ninja-cops”, government-sanctioned vigilantes who covertly kill drug dealers and drug dealing associates as part of the EJK (Stubley, The Independent; 2019). What’s more chilling about this is that Duterte is behind all of it but he cannot be liable for any wrong-doing because society has been persuaded into accepting it.
“Duterte may be offending the norms of respectful communication when he prefaces his remarks with “motherfucker,” but he brings to the surface the collective frustration many feel. He may not offer the clearest policy, but he puts forward the sincerest discourse of sympathy… Duterte’s gutter language establishes the urgency of saving the republic. Including “kill” and “death” is essential to the president’s vocabulary for the country is at war, and his politics of “I will” demands quick, albeit painful, solutions” - Nicole Curato (Anthropologist, CEIP; 2019)
His charisma and blunt attitude toward the unfolding violent situation has landed him a type of dramatic movie-role persona with a qualified political track record to support it. With conviction, Duterte bestows himself as the only strong leader decisive enough to save the nation from this drug crime crisis. The 16.6 million people who voted for him without hesitation truly believe that he can supply the real change he has promised them. In an article by The Independent, Rodrigo Duterte is referred to as the ‘strongman’, which is a leadership archetype outlined in the book Populism: A Very Short Introduction: “Populist strongmen tend to rule on the basis of a “cult leader”, which portrays him as a masculine and potentially violent figure…the notion of strongman is often related to authoritarian regimes” (Mudde & Rovira, 2019; p.63) The book concludes its description by explaining that “…populist take it a step further, crafting an image of a man of action, rather than words, who is not afraid to make difficult and quick decisions, even against “expert” advice” (Mudde & Rovira, 2019; p. 64). This is interesting because it is a very choice word/name by this news publication to use to describe Duterte’s role as leader of the nation, and it absolutely designates their opinion about him as a freely-elected president.
Mayor & Vice Mayor EJK – A Trending Analysis
There is a malicious pattern that has been on the rise in the Philippines. In an article published in 2018 by Rappler – the current leading government opposition news publisher in the Philippines – it showcases that since President Duterte was elected into office in 2016, there have been nineteen separate cases in which a Mayor or Vice Mayor of a region in the Philippines has been shot and killed with zero follow-up investigation by government-appointed authority (Gavilan, Rappler; 2018). Moreover, not only have the high majority of the cases not been solved, but each one of the case files claims that the suspected killer’s identity is unknown. In a quick breakdown analysis, based on the information provided by the article published by Rappler, fourteen out of the nineteen murder cases was an EJK and tasked by an unidentified gunman(men) through a tactical ambush, drive-by shooting, or close-range assassination (Gavilan, Rappler; 2018). In the remaining five cases, two were of special or unusual circumstance but served as coincidental in the timeframe. The Mayor of Albuera, Rolando Espinosa, was shot in his jail cell in October of 2016 after being arrested and sentenced to life in prison on charges of illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and eleven kilos of methamphetamine in his home. In June of 2017, Gisela Bendong Buniel, Mayor of Bien Undo, is believed to have been abducted and killed by her husband over an alleged marital dispute. The remaining three cases show that the National Police or State Agents are the groups responsible, but only after each of the government officials (Mayor/Vice Mayor) supposedly attempted to evade arrest or refuse to surrender to the security forces (Gavilan, Rappler; 2019). In all three of those instances, however, the proclaimed Mayor(s) or Vice Mayor(s) were being approached on a warrant by the nation on suspected drug trade or trafficking activity. But, the other fifteen government officials who were murdered in cold blood, those operations were performed by government-sponsored vigilantes; people who have purposely remained unidentified because they are being protected under the Duterte Administration EJK statute.