Agraaam, Cashmir Angelo J.

March 13, 2023

STEM 12 – St. Agatha
Introduction:
“Just because they are pushers, will kill them, No. They are humans, we have to look
at them as humans” is the sentence that struck me most in a documentary by CBC News:
The National “Horror of the Philippines' drug war” talks about the immoral killings of
masked men sometimes police or thugs began killings to stop the so-called transformation
of the Philippines into a narco-state of drug usage. The moral issue of the documentary is
the unresolved and ludicrous killing of so-called “drug pushers or addicts” by thugs and
policemen. The immoral ways these victims are subjected to are saddening, to be killed just
because you are accused of a crime that you have not yet been proven guilty of is an abuse
of power.
These incidents happen during the drug war under the presidency of President
Duterte, these killings started since according to him the Philippines is a den of drugs and
drug addicts. For him to establish control and stop the flow of drugs he orders all possible
suspects of drug pushing or selling to be killed or imprisoned. The campaign lessened the
spread of drugs in the nation, but it was tainted by extrajudicial executions that were
purportedly carried out by the police and unidentified assailants. At a news conference on
July 7, 2016, Duterte displays a diagram of drug cartels. When I was younger I agreed to the
killings of the drug war since I was still ignorant of how the different victims of this
campaign were affected. I have now realized that I was under vincible ignorance because
no matter how big of a problem drugs may have posed, the killing of a 16-year-old is a
belligerent act. The issue of this documentary is fear and violence, due to the fear of
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and the effects of drugs on the country he enforced a strict
and brutal way to end it. He imposed not only violence but also fear in the Philippines.
Although his intentions were good to stop drug trafficking in the Philippines, the way he
enforced it was bad and morally wrong. Another illustration of the harsh stance the
government takes against individuals who are in need of basic necessities is the abusive
techniques employed to punish those accused of violating quarantine and the enormous
number of mass arrests that have been made to date, primarily against the poor.
In conclusion, I do not agree with the way that president duterte handled the
situation of drugs in the Philippines. I agree that we should imprison and punish those who
try to ruin our society, but being able to point and shoot them without hesitance would be a
scary society to live. I believe that he could’ve ended the flow of drugs in the Philippines
without using violence and fear, educating poverty-stricken cities about the use of drugs
would have been a moral way of stopping the improper use of illegal drugs. Killing a 16-
year-old child is the same as destroying the future.

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0v9IcZRfhY