War on Drugs: The Country’s Slaughter to Righteousness

Conflagration, massacres and iniquity. This is the situation of Philippines now and

before. The sole difference is that action was just implemented. Everything before was a blind

eye. An article published in The Philippine Star by Sara Soliven De Guzman entitled, ‘ As a

Matter of Fact: War on Drugs’, last September 4, 2017, stated that the business of illegal drugs

has turned the country into a horrible “narco-state”. This is an exclusive perception of a

journalist – a witness of current events after recording polls on the advantages and disadvantages

of this ongoing crisis that is affecting millions of lives nationwide – both the innocent and the

not. However, if this conflict revolving illegal drugs and drug dealers are not to be handled

properly and mislead even more, it might result to civil war which is worse than before: it will

include groups of people against another group of people in the same country. The definition of

‘extrajudicial killings’ was stated under the Administrative Order 35 issued by the Aquino

administration. Extrajudicial killings are defined in the order as committed by “state and non-

state” forces to silence through violence and intimidation, legitimate dissent and opposition

raised by members of the civil society, cause-oriented groups, political movements, people’s and

non-government organizations and by ordinary citizens. Human Rights Watch (HRW) Geneva

director John Fisher emphasized that the Duterte administration cannot just say that extrajudicial

killings do not exist by limiting the definition. “An extrajudicial killing,” he added. “Refers to

the killing of a person by government authorities without sanction of judicial proceeding or legal

process.”

To say that Philippines is in a “narco-state” is profoundly negative whereas it means

illegal drugs has controlled the government through bribery of government officials; the official

standard of greed above deed. Government officials are blinded on drug trafficking as some
believe it denotes them power in secrecy. In turn, drug traffickers act mighty in a way that the

government officials are being controlled in their doings. Moreover, the side to look here are the

impecunious. The desperation in their system to do anything in the name of money is a major

problem, no matter if the job done was felonious or not. This makes the indigent as victims. The

intelligence group of the President pin-pointed a total of 31 narco-politicians who are still under

service and 23 more who no longer hold positions. It is a form of betrayal to truthfully point out

that some policemen, mayors, governors, congressmen, senators and judges are protectors of this

act as it guarantees their pockets wad of cash. Still, Duterte’s supporters, including a minimal

percentage of government officials, neglect the truth about such reported killings without legal

process. “The government’s refusal to acknowledge the existence of extrajudicial killings under

President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs is ‘absurd’,” said HRW last Saturday, October 7.

President Rodrigo strongly believes in the action of eradicating drug addicts as the pathway to a

safer future. However, despite these huge numbers, the Philippine National Police (PNP), on

Friday, October 6, said there has been “officially no case” of extrajudicial killing since July

2016. Is it safe to say that the recent killings have been under due process? Or is it possible that

these killings were not commanded by neither the government nor police but implanted on their

behalf to destroy their public image?

Drug money has rotated and possessed the fate of this country. In the first part, it has

even controlled elections nowadays. Some of President Duterte’s previous followers who are in

rebel against him at this moment despise the President’s decision in voicing out war on drugs as

it is where the mess of today, namely reasonless killings and the abuse of power by some

corrupted policemen, originated. De Guzman stated in the article that those who think who know

how to fully solve this problem are just loud mouths; the ones who bicker in complaint and do no
act in return. Sara De Guzman verbalized to the public who keep on supporting an imbroglio

about human rights that this country has numerous issues on human rights and there is a need to

be improved in a lot of matters specifically poverty, human trafficking and illegal labor. The

current drug problem in the Philippines is neither a live television show nor a movie with the

entire gag reels and behind-the-scenes labels; it is a serious problem that needs to be addressed

effectively and intellectually in concern to the future of this country and the citizens. “It is very,

very clear that when somebody is killed and in the context of police operations, there is no

judicial process, no legal process,” Fisher explained as the Commission on Human Rights (CHR)

previously stated that it has always adhered to international guidelines and that the definition

used during the Aquino administration was based on what was happening that time. Therefore,

this simply concludes that the Philippines is in a dilemma on what to believe in the proper

definition of extrajudicial killings on Duterte’s war on drugs.

The war on drugs is not negative as some people portray it to be. Yes, it has massive

killings and censures but it has aided in the relinquishment of 1.2 million drug users and 89,000

pushers as reported by The Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement

Agency (PDEA). De Guzman enunciated as well that a 26 percent reduction of the total drug

market and a 29 percent drop in index crimes across the country. This is a significant change and

a massive drop in drug use and leads is a good sign of progress however what is quarreled here

by the mass media, netizens and citizens is the use of death punishment as ramification. As

stated, some policemen abuse the permission of power and terminate illegal drug-oriented people

without proper execution or justice. As of July 26, 2017, there was a hike in record wherein a

total of 5, 617 were killed and under the category are 68 policemen and military officials, 3,451

in legitimate police operations and 2,098 drug-related deaths.

hear “The War on Drugs in the Philippines”, it has been perceived to be focused only on the poor

side of society. To note the case further, tradition has it that the poor are more often than not

used for errands by the middle class and the rich to gain advantage. The truth is that, some

assumptions are made without proper investigation and evaluation of evidence leading to

misinformation. This adds up to the country’s problem as well. People are more gullible

nowadays especially with the rise of factitious news specifically the topic about the country’s

war on drugs. Regina Hechanova, head of the Task Force on Drug Recovery of the

Psychological Association of the Philippines, said that the Philippines is about 20 to 30 years

behind in understanding drug use and corporate punishment. “The understanding that our

government leaders have, that’s the understanding that other countries had in the 1970s,” She

further added, “Maybe the attention to it has not been there, perhaps? Especially in a country like

the Philippines where people are stigmatized, it’s not something that people talk about.”

Numerous nations had waged war on drugs in their history as well. The United States of

America once declared conflagration to drugs back in the past and only realized that this war

cannot be simply won over. The U.S. government discerned that the minds of their citizens can

never be controlled in terms of the disadvantages of illegal drug usage. Files kept adding on

court and this resulted to a tiring and never-ending fight. It is time for the citizens to update their

understanding of drugs if this conflict were to be resolved and if the entitled first world countries

cannot take control over drug abuse, users and traffickers, how much more third world countries?

De Guzman mentioned as well that the Philippines simply do not have resources nationally to

fully investigate such cases. However, if this may be the only way to an ongoing progress in the

country with the extremity of deaths and abuse, what does The Philippines really have to lose?
 Citations in this paper:

De Guzman, S.S. (September 4, 2017). As a Matter of Fact. Manila City, Philippines: The Philippine Star

Gavilan, J. (n.d.). Definition of Extrajudicial Killings. The War on Drugs.

Moreno, L.Y. (Updated last September 22, 2017). What Do You Think of President Rodrigo Duterte’s
War on Drugs in the Philippines?