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Case Study 4.1 - Duterte’s Death Squads

BC 306

City University of Seattle

John Torres

November 1st, 2020

Case Study 4.1 – Duterte’s Death Squads

Leaders are very important to society or a group of people they manage. They can have a

great influence on those around them, so their decisions will show how the problem is solved.

However, the leaders are also human, they also have different sides of good and evil, so they

need to control them. If evil decisions are made, it will bring opposition from everyone. In this

case, it is about the cruel decision of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Rodrigo Duterte took over the Philippine presidency in 2016 and he began his campaign

against drugs in the Philippines. He formed suicide squads and paid them salaries to hunt down

drug addicts to kill them, and he also declared that he would take all responsibility for killed drug

addicts (The Guardian, 2020). Deaths squad members and police both directly murdered those

considered suspects and this has greatly exposed domestic and international public opinion. By

the end of 2018, the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened a preliminary investigation and

asked Rodrigo Duterte to explain the deaths of more than 12,000 people killed in his campaign

against drugs (Michael Ray, 2020). However, Rodrigo Duterte has applied to withdraw the

Philippines from the ICC and decided to be more aggressive than willing to open fire with

journalists and reporters who obstruct their work to prevent drugs. From these harsh policies, the

Philippines has significantly reduced the number of drug crimes, and this helped Rodrigo Duterte

gain confidence from the people to continue the next term.

1. What faces of evil do you see reflected in this case?

It can be seen that Duterte's approach is correct for the good of the country because it

reduces the number of criminals and helps those with intentions to stay away from them. But in

practical terms, there will likely be a lot of people killed for being suspected because their
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executors think they are right and unforgiving. The next is morally why we need to kill them

instead of helping them get rid of an addiction, but that's the policy Duterte put forward and the

poor are mostly the ones to suffer.

2. Why do followers support leaders, like Duterte, who engage in atrocities?

Duterte is intelligent and he knows how to gain trust from his people. The first is that he

fulfilled his promise when he accepted his presidency to destroy drug crime in the country of the

Philippines. Besides, those involved in crime hunting are paid commensurate every time they

catch criminals, so Dureter has a good system to destroy crime. Also, after seeing the number of

drug crime fall, the residents thought they should trust Dureter for a crime-free future. Those

were the reasons why Dureter gained the trust of his people even though what he did was cruel.

3. Can you think of other examples of leaders and followers who do evil deeds because they

believe they are serving a noble cause? How can we keep from doing the same?

A prime example of this is the North Korean President Kim Jong Un. All of this country's

economy is used for military purposes, with the creation of nuclear weapons, Kim Jong Un

believes it will protect the country from war (tamazan). This caused the Korean country to be

embargoed and fall into a state of underdevelopment when the economy was not focused and

trade with foreign countries, and living conditions are low compared to other countries in the

world. But the people of this country still have a loyalty to their leader and completely obey the

orders because they think they are serving their own country and are willing to die for it.

This lofty self-sacrificing puts North Korea in poverty without its leadership focused on

economic development. Although it is true that when they create nuclear weapons, their country
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is not at war with other countries. The leaders should learn and focus on comprehensive

development for the country and improve their management capacity. Besides, the decision

should be carefully considered before approval, which can affect the whole organization.

4. Why do you think Matobato and Lascanas came forward when so many of their fellow

death squad colleagues remain silent?

Humanity is very important for every human being and most of all humans have

humanity. In this case, Matobato and Lascanas at first felt very guilty when they murdered others

under the orders of the government, which made them feel like their crimes were not forgiven.

Also, they feel that killing others makes their children's future darker. Add to that their courage,

not everyone is brave enough to stand up and say their mistakes and especially they are against

the interim government. Others will also feel guilty, but they are under the government's control

and dare not speak up. So the most different thing between Matobato and Lascanas and the

others in the Deaths Squad is the courage, dare to fight for justice.

5. What role does truth-telling play in fighting evil? What role does guilt play?

Telling the truth is the best evidence to expose crime, if no one dares to tell the truth, it

will surely be more widespread and difficult to control. find out the cause of the problem and

find ways to combat emerging crimes and force criminals to pay for what they do. Crime will be

hidden forever if no one tells the truth, and to do this, it takes courage and guilt. The role of guilt

is to make witnesses of evil arouse themselves and bravely stand against it. Like Matobato and

Lascanas they felt guilty and had nightmares when they slept, and then forced them to stand up

and tell the truth to free themselves from that guilt.

6. Does the negative impact of evil carry over to the next generations? Do sons and

daughters pay for the sins of their fathers and mothers, as officer Lascanas fears?

Offenders cannot be sure that their children will also commit crimes in the future, but

surely the child's future will be greatly affected. According to Lascanas, on the orders of the

government he and his teammates killed a family with a 4-year-old child and the pregnant, which

made him feel guilty all the time. he must speak up. Children who have not yet been born or

have an awareness of the outside world also suffer the same fate, which is inhuman in Duteter's

campaign. Besides, the people participating in this crime destruction campaign will also fear that

they and their families will be revenge in the future, and what they do now will be rewarded in

the future. spirit of the Asians. Also, what would their children think if they knew they were

killers, it was hard to imagine.

7. What can the international community do to end the killing? What action, if any, should

the United States take?

In this case, countries around the world can only exert pressure through seminars and

negotiations. However, this may very hard to change the steadfastness of the Philippine

president. However, it is possible to enact punishment for the Philippines but under the

consensus of all influential countries in the world. As an ally of the Philippines throughout the

years, the United States should exercise its leading and continuing position. Without consensus

from other countries, the United States should not impose sanctions on the Philippines because in

doing so, the United States will create opportunities for other major countries to pull the

Philippines on their sides such as China or Russia. Besides, the US can urge the Philippines to

change its human rights policies to help this country have a better view of human rights.
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To sum up, this case study gives us a better look at the cruel side of politics, what

happens when leaders ignore everything and believe they're doing the right thing. The people's

confidence needs to be placed in the right leader if the country is to truly flourish. Crime will be

exposed if witnesses dare to stand up and speak the truth.

References

Moral Theories. https://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/ethics-101/moral-traditions/.

Michael Ray. (2020, March 24). Rodrigo Duterte. Encyclopædia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rodrigo-Duterte.

Associated Press. (2020, October 20). 'I'm the one': Philippines president takes responsibility for

drug killings. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/20/im-the-one-

philippines-president-takes-responsibility-for-drug-killings.

Talmazan, Y., & Kim, S. (2020, July 28). Kim Jong Un says nuclear weapons will guarantee

North Korea's national safety. NBCNews.com.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kim-jong-un-says-nuclear-weapons-will-guarantee-

north-korea-n1235072.