“Extrajudicial killing: A justifiable solution

or Just another crime?”

By: Maravie V. Venus

What is extrajudicial killing? Is it a solution to this country to lessen the crimes

here in the Philippines those drugs brought to us? What will be the opinions of the
church about this matter? Is there a chance that the people who are not agreeing of
this extrajudicial killing will change their mind? Do you think that extrajudicial
killings perpetuated by the Duterte administration are justifiable considering the drug
menace? How about you, do you agree about this matter?

An extrajudicial killing is the killing of a person by governmental authorities

without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process. Extrajudicial
punishments are mostly seen by humanity to be unethical, since they bypass the due
process of the legal jurisdiction in which they occur. Extrajudicial killings often target
leading political, trade union, dissident, religious, and social figures and are only
those carried out by the state government or other state authorities like the armed
forces or police, as extra-legal fulfilment of their prescribed role. This does not include
cases where aforementioned authorities act under motives that serve their own
interests and not the State's, such as to eliminate their complicity in crime or
commissioning by an outside party. And for Section 3(a) of the United States Torture
Victim Protection Act contains a definition of extrajudicial killing: a deliberate killing
not authorized by a previous judgement pronounced by a regular constituted court
affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized
peoples. Such term, however, does not include any such killing that, under
international law, is lawfully carried out under the authority of a foreign nation.

The church even protested about this matter. According to the Archdiocese of
Manila, Fr. Atilano Fajardo, they believe that those people – drug users, pushers and
dealers – can no longer had their chance to change their ways of living because they
are already dead. “We believe, especially in the Year of Mercy, that we have a chance of showing our
love of God. But because of this (the extrajudicial killings), there’s no more love because there’s no more
life who will ask for forgiveness and mercy,” he added. (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/798551/church-thou-
shall-not-kill#ixzz4MEo7aLYa )

I have supported President Duterte’s stand against criminals. I understand

where he is coming from and we most definitely have to start making sure Filipinos
feel safe in the Philippines again. There are many aspects of the president’s solution to
violence and crime that I can understand and even support. Placing curfews on
teenagers, alcohol consumption, and more are smart preventive measures.

However, having said all that, I don’t believe that “shoot to kill” is the best way
to achieve the goal of a safer country. When did fighting fire with fire ever actually
work in the long run? There has to be a better middle ground. If the president’s
mandate of shoot to kill is followed what we would end up with are even more
vigilantes walking the streets with a convoluted sense of ‘wild wild west’ justice. This is
not the way to make things safe again. In fact, things might get even more dangerous.

I understand wanting to clean the streets for our families, but turning a blind eye to
what is happening right now just because we it feel it doesn’t apply to us is wrong. It
might seem that way now, but in the end it will come back to haunt us. What happens
when one day it’s someone we love being wrongly accused and gunned out without a
proper trial? Or worse, what if we, or someone we love, become collateral damage in a
random shoot-out? It’s not far-fetched considering the way people are reacting to the
president’s mandate. Tony Katigbak of the Philstar Global

But why would people who never tolerated or approved of killings suddenly now
do so? What made them look at things differently? What made them transcend the
repulsion for killing and even discount the possibility that they or their families could
be victims as well?
The most plausible reason is that the individual pain of the directly affected must have
built up quietly over the last four decades while it caused fear among their relatives or
neighbours. There must have been a sense of helplessness, enough to force either
resignation or quiet resentment. And the dam broke. It seems Duterte broke the dam
of helplessness, resignation and resentment.

If I were ask if what is my opinion about this matter, I will absolutely not
approve to this. Because I love my fellow countrymen, and if weren’t with them,
Duterte will not be in that position. Yes, I admit that some people here in this
country have been involved to drugs. But for me, I think that maybe it’s not
right to kill them. Yes! They’ve given a chance to surrender their selves to the
authority. But don’t you think this “shoot to kill” policy is included to what we
called justice? I don’t think so. I am not saying that I condone of such a measure; I
do not want innocent people to die, and I also want due process for all criminals and a
fair trial. But you have to understand that even though the Philippines is growing and
becoming bigger and better, a lot of problems remain. As we look at our
surroundings, we can see the picture of quiet desperation. I am all for justice,
but cardboard justice will not do. We must not condone this. I understand the
desperation, but this is a band-aid solution to a largely deeper problem. At least
we should give them a little more time and chance to change themselves, to
change the life they had for the better. An author once said that it is “easier to
blow up trains than to make them run on time.” With the war on drugs, it is
“easier to kill drug dealers than to rehabilitate them and improve the situation that
made them drug dealers in the first place.”

But maybe even if we protested, it will never be heard by them. Maybe this is
their solution to this kind of problem. We never knew what the plan of our dear
president about this is just kill them all for nothing would be a problem. And maybe
this is how we react because we pity ourselves because we are the victim of this kind
of tragic happening. But I think we should trust the government about this, we also
should trust to our president in his decisions; we are the one who give him the power
to lead us after all, right? And maybe someday, we also change our mind and our view
about it like everybody else.