Friday, March 25,

2020 FEATURE ARTICLE Culminating Activity

SHOOT TO KILL: DUTERTE A

RESURRECTED MARCOS, CRITICS SAY
Yessamin Orillo Paredes

Why would Filipinos entrust their succeeded by a new president in 2022.

futures to politicians who keep
promising them change? Now
changes begun occurring, why
Filipinos seem to take their words
back? What change exactly do
Filipinos yearn for?
The onslaught of this drug-punishing
scheme roots back in Davao City
where Duterte was once a city mayor.
The casualties did not only affect the

The prominent Rodrigo "The

Punisher" Duterte gains praise and
critics for his personalized politics
and the ongoing anti-drug campaign
has now more reasons for public
protest to fold. This operation is new
but how it affects the country recalls
the notorious Ferdinand Marcos. “If lives but even the livelihood,
you go into drugs... I will kill you," education, and public safety of his
Duterte warned during his speech. people. Nonetheless, Davao City
“Even with the United Nations remains one of the safest places in the
listening, I will kill you.” world during his watch.
Duterte's strong image will remain Philstar. July 12, 2019 – 7:14 PM. A victim of Duterte’s war on drugs.
https://media.interaksyon.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Drug-war-

remarkable even after being victim.jpg

P
a
g
e
1

The first three State of the Nation
Address (SONA) gave initial hints on
how the drug-war will play a huge
facet in the Duterte administration.
During his 3-year-term approximately
37,000 Filipino drug convicts were
killed. The government's focus on
criminal charges amid the pandemic
raised international concern,
moreover. Earlier in Martial Law,
extrajudicial killings are notable in the
hands of the dictator Marcos. Critics
named Duterte the resurrected Marcos
while some hundred names will later
be exposed.
"Ano'ng kasalanan ko? Nag nakaw ba
ako diyan, ni piso? (What have I
done? Did I steal a coin?) Did I
prosecute somebody? Ang kasalanan
ko lang yung mga extrajudicial
killings. (The only sin I did is the
extrajudicial killings.),” Duterte
admitted during his speech at the
presidential place last September 24,
2020.
His honesty formed tension between
the United Nations, Human Rights
Watch, Filipinos, and Rodrigo Duterte
himself. What fate is waiting for him
once he steps down from office? Will
the extreme killings haunt him behind
bars? That eventually depends on the
next administration. His three
predecessors Estrada, Arroyo, and
Aquino III, after tenure, respectively,
face criminal charges later on.
Meanwhile, “And if you hang me for
all what I did, go ahead. It will be my
pleasure,” Duterte blasted at a
“And if you hang me for
all what I did, go ahead.
It will be my pleasure,”
- Rodrigo Duterte
regional summit in Bangkok last
November 2, 2019. “You do not scare
me that you will jail me in the
International Criminal Court… I am
only responsible to the Filipino.
Filipinos will judge. ”
"The frustration and desperation that
we have saying for the past decades
when it comes to the right kind of
governance has been twisted in the
form of just allowing violence, of just
allowing killings to continue just so
we can have that semblance of peace
and order," told Wilnor Papa, a
Human Rights Officer in the Amnesty
International Philippines. The wrath
of Duterte towards drugs has reached
the national level but what else
solution a president can think of?
Does simply putting them behind bars
enough to halt illicit trade when the
Philippines, an archipelago country,
and drugs were possibly floating on
waters?
A year left before the end of President
Duterte’s tenure and his drug war
operations continue pushing the pile
of bodies to reach as high as 27,000 as
estimated by the domestic human
rights groups last year. Is the Duterte
administration more deteriorating than
the 9-year-old Martial Law? Yet
Duterte's satisfactory rating went 80%
leaving 3% the opposition.
Suspicious, isn’t it? Or is media the
biggest opponent he has been facing
all this time?
In the context of the present covid-19
outbreak, Duterte showed immense
interest in capturing crime violators
than the subsisting health situation
itself. Crime operations include public
dissent that slain and shutdown
journalists were allegedly instructed
by Duterte. Though political figures
and scholars know it doesn't work that
way. Allow me to remind you of the
roles legislatures and judiciary hold
that explain why the government has
three branches, to begin with.
P
a
g
e
2
Duterte's administration is bloody and
bold- what can we expect from a
maverick, fearless, and passionate
leader like no other? Disregarding the
harm it brought to human rights, two
possible reasons why Duterte has
gone such exploit: for himself or the
country. The latter reminds us of the
power when he had it much lesser
before. Meanwhile, the former drives
him to eliminate crimes by
exterminating criminals. Can a bad
deed make Duterte a bad leader
worse, a bad person? Will his extreme
tactics make him a criminal, too?
A leader was once a follower. But a
leader who seems exceptional follows
no one. Duterte showed us what kind
of leadership he offers to Filipinos.
What do you call a leader who
executed bad things, admit it himself,
just to give his country the peace he
thinks, it deserves? What does it take
to become a leader? Will Duterte
realized that 7 million Filipino drug-
users (which gave him the
determination to pursue the anti-drug
operation) hardly cannot be
exterminated? Or he will realize that
this is a race where he could never
finish? Whether to admit it or not:
Only President Duterte has gone
this far.