East Asia Forum

Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia

and the Pacific
http://www.eastasiaforum.org

Dutertes anti-drug crackdown poses risks to rule of law

21st August, 2016
Authors: Ronald D. Holmes, ANU, and Mark R. Thompson, City University of Hong Kong
Since his inauguration on 30 June, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been true to his
campaign pledge of cracking down on drugs. He has ignored objections from within the
Philippines and abroad about extrajudicial killings of supposed drug pushers and users by
police and unknown assailants, which have already amounted to over a thousand deaths.

Why has a mounting body count and obvious violations of the rule of law and human rights
failed to slow Dutertes war on drugs?
One reason is his sky-high poll rating of 91 per cent [1]. Official statistics show crime has risen
and drug use is widespread. Duterte has played to a moral panic, arguing that criminality
endangers the lives of people he vowed to protect.
Dutertes ability to flout fundamental principles of the rule of law is also grounded in the
weakness of basic political institutions. Duterte was elected [2] with only a handful of
congressional allies. But because Philippine political parties are weak he now has the support of
most legislators who simply switched sides after his victory in search of presidential patronage.
This has left only a few critics in office to speak out against the crackdown, particularly the
separately elected vice president, Leni Robredo, and neophyte Senator Leila de Lima. Recently,
Duterte has upped the rhetorical stakes, accusing Senator de Lima, whos urged an
investigation of the killings, of immorality and involvement in illegal drugs, allegations the
senator has vehemently denied and which led critics to once again point to Dutertes misogyny.
Duterte also feels he can ignore the Supreme Court because it has been politicised, in part via
his predecessor Benigno Noynoy Aquinos removal of the Chief Justice, widely seen as an
act of political revenge.

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East Asia Forum

Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia
and the Pacific
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Several leading Catholic Bishops have voiced strong criticisms of the extrajudicial killings. But
Duterte revels in pointing to the hypocrisy of the Church, particularly the institutions vast wealth
and priests abuse of children.
Civil society groups have also been outspoken critics of the extrajudicial killings but have
become fractured, with many leading members crossing over to government. On the far left, the
Communist Party charge Duterte for upturning the criminal judicial system and denouncing
people for defending human rights [3]. But because Duterte has handed out several of their
allies key cabinet positions, and because of their eagerness for a peace deal, the lefts criticism
has been muted.
Duterte has also kept the media off balance. During the campaign, he warned reporters not to
take his outrageous statements too seriously [4]. He also dampened criticism by pointing to
reporters being complicit with corrupt politicians and criminals they were supposed to expose.
On the United States, Duterte called US Ambassador Philip Goldberg a gay son of a whore.
Duterte struck a note with many Filipinos by pointing to past US double dealings as a colonial
and postcolonial power in the Philippines and questioning whether the declining superpower
would really back the Philippines if it came to an armed confrontation with China over competing
territorial claims.
Duterte has thus far skilfully outmanoeuvred his opponents by exposing their own frailties. But
there are signs that he may have difficulty sustaining his violent anti-drug campaign.
The human cost of the carnage has become all too evident. There have been a number of high
profile mistakes in the killings many clearly innocent victims. Even those murdered who did
use or sell drugs have been denied any kind of due process. The Philippine Daily Inquirers Kill
List, documenting the daily killings (recently averaging about 10 a day), points to the skewed
nature of the killings: the overwhelming majority of the victims are poor and from disadvantaged
neighbourhoods.
To divert attention from the criticism that the war on drugs has largely targeted the poor, the
Duterte administration recently released a list of 150 police and military officials, politicians and
judges accused of involvement in the drug trade. But targeting high-ranking officials carries risks
of its own with the possibility that his elite enemies may regroup for a counterattack,
endangering political stability.
A look at Thailand is instructive. An analysis of the 2003 anti-drug crackdown by then Thai
prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra shows that half of the nearly 3000 people killed
extra-judicially were not linked to the drug trade. They were either accidental victims or targeted
by corrupt police or vengeful vigilantes. Although the campaign lifted Thaksins short-run
popularity, elites soon turned on him, overthrowing his government in 2006 and his sisters
government in 2014. Thai authorities are now talking of treating drug addiction as a health
problem and are considering a partial decriminalisation of drugs as a more effective way of
dealing with the problem [5].

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East Asia Forum

Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia
and the Pacific
http://www.eastasiaforum.org

This holds out the hope that Duterte will stop or slow the extrajudicial killings. Hopefully the
damage they have caused to the countrys judicial system and law enforcement is not
permanent and the administration will focus on the fundamental woes of poverty and feeble
political institutions that breed uncivil social behaviour.
Ronald Holmes is a Research Scholar in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the
ANU. Mark R. Thompson is director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre at the City
University of Hong Kong.
The author will speak further on this topic at the Philippine Update Conference [6] to be held at
The ANU on 2-3 September 2016.
Article from the East Asia Forum: http://www.eastasiaforum.org
URL to article:
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/08/21/dutertes-anti-drug-crackdown-poses-risks-to-ru
le-of-law/
[1] sky-high poll rating of 91 per cent:
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/08/20/a-storm-of-bullets-a-wave-of-apathy-rocks-the-p
hilippines/
[2] Duterte was elected: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/07/07/seven-days-of-duterte/
[3] upturning the criminal judicial system and denouncing people for defending human
rights:
http://www.rappler.com/nation/142967-cpp-duterte-war-drugs-anti-people-undemocratic
[4] not to take his outrageous statements too seriously:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/788956/seek-to-understand-duterte-aides-urge
[5] more effective way of dealing with the problem:
http://www.asiasentinel.com/society/answer-southeast-asia-drug-problems/
[6] Philippine Update Conference:
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/asiapacific-region/philippine-update-conference-2016

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