Posted at Dec 19 2016 03:49 PM
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Filipinos have found their footing six months into the turbulent rule of President Rodrigo Duterte, telling him they want an end to the bloodbath that has left thousands of suspected drug addicts and pushers dead.
The latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, conducted conducted from December 3-6 and released today, showed an overwhelming number of Filipinos, 94%, want drug suspects captured alive, while almost 8 of ten respondents say they fear ending up a statistic in the autocratic leader’s “war on drugs.”
The survey results are a big victory for human rights advocates in the country, who have been jeered at and threatened by Duterte and his loyal supporters.
READ: 8 in 10 Pinoys fear dying in drug war, says poll
FATAL FLAW
No longer can Duterte and die-hard fans scoff at growing concern by citing the 16 million who voted him for office.
The results of the survey do not surprise me. In social media threads, even those who still support him have acknowledged growing concern over the strategies and tactics employed in the crackdown. Privately, more express worries at the contradictions in the President’s promise to rid the nation of the scourge of drugs.
At the heart of these worries is the fatal flaw of Duterte’s war – a contempt for an admittedly flawed justice system.
At the onset of the official campaign, Duterte and his national police chief, Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa shrugged off the killings, even as they washed their hands of murders supposedly instigated by vigilantes or henchmen of narcotics kingpins.
It is a strange position. Duterte has acknowledged corruption as the root of the spread of narcotics gangs in the country. Yet he has done little to arrest and charge the big guns he accuses of protecting the drug syndicates.
None of the police generals he tagged as drug protectors have been charged even as he has hinted strongly that many of the killings were launched by drug gangs cleansing their ranks of their weakest members.
In fact, Duterte has insisted he will defend any cop charged with extra-judicial killings until they are proven guilty by the courts.
He invoked this pledge, claiming he does not want to demoralize cops, when senior police officials in Eastern Visayas were implicated in the prison murder of Albuera Mayor and suspected drug dealer Rolando Espinosa Sr.
READ: Police in Espinosa 'rubout' won't go to prison: Duterte
Duterte, touted by fans for his “strategic brilliance,” has long boasted that he plants evidence and manipulates rival drug personalities into taking out each other.
But these are discredited tactics, cited as among the reasons behind the creation of virtual narco states in Latin American.
Letting the deaths of pushers go unpunished does not lessen the power of the drug gangs. It only allows the strongest to consolidate their power.
By the time Duterte unleashes his rage on lords of drugs and their lieutenants – IF he actually does – the wages of impunity will have allowed criminals to take over law enforcement agencies.
As a result of the perceived impunity enjoyed by law enforcers, there has been a sea change in the one-time blind trust given to Duterte and, by extension, law enforcers.
The SWS survey results showed 78% of respondents are worried they or anyone they know will die due to the drug campaign. Almost half, 45% say they are “very worried” and 33% “somewhat worried.”
