Battle of Power

“…ang mamatay ng dahil sa’yo”, then a loud bang resonated around the flagpole
leaving him grasping his chest and hiding for his life.
Extrajudicial killings is mostly a battle of power. If you look at the news, most of
the victims of extrajudicial killings are the poor and the powerless. EJK has become a
vessel for officials to abuse their powers and use them to get rid of anyone that gets on
their ways. One example of this is Mayor Antonio Halili. The statement above is what
happened to Mayor Antonio Halili during a flag raising ceremony on their city hall. Halili
was known to punish drug suspect by letting them do the “walk of shame”. He
supported President Duterte’s War on Drugs but was not in favor of doing extrajudicial
killings. He said that if we continue to kill drug pushers, especially the 3 rd and 4th level
one, there’s too many people to kill. He was accused of being linked to illegal drug trade
without proofs and was stripped of his power to supervise anti-drug operation. Police
have not yet confirmed a motive for the shooting but the Philippine Right Groups
suspects that it has something to do with Duterte. According to them, Duterte is
assassinating opponents under the cover of the drug war. This is supported by the fact
that four days before Halili’s death, Duterte publicly joked that vice mayors should
kidnap or otherwise depose their bosses.
Even on the district level, these killings are also ongoing. One case is Carlito
Ramirez, civilian body guard of a barangay chairman. He was shot four times in the
head by two unidentified gunmen. According to his wife, they were on their way home
when suspects blocked their path and shot him. He warned her to run and she escaped.
The suspects continuously shot Carlito. The wife also said that that he is not involved in
any drug-related acts, instead she suspect that the killing is politically motivated. The
police labelled this case as “death under investigation” but the wife believed that it was
EJK.
Innocent people are being killed each week. Suspected drug users and pushers
are being killed without remorse. These small and powerless people and being targeted
but big time drug lords are living in luxury. They are roaming freely on the streets,
without a worry of some guy killing him. They are living behind the officials that is
protecting them in exchange for money. They are turning a blind eye to the illegal drug
trade that is clearly happening in the plain sight as long as their bank accounts are full.
What is the point of killing the drug users and pushers if the main lords are out there
living their lives at its fullest? They are getting rid of the users and protecting the
producers. These fight will not end unless that people with great power will use their
power for the greater good and put an end to this never-ending war.