FARAON

PHLO1-C

A REFLECTION AND ANALYSIS ON PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTES

WAR ON DRUGS CAMPAIGN AND THE CONTROVERSY ON EXTRA-JUDICIAL
KILLINGS

FARAON, SAMANTHA ROMELLE P.

IN PARTIAL FULFUILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS ON

PHLO 1-C
 Kian Lloyd delos Santos, a 17-year old Caloocan resident died in an anti-drug operation
in Caloocan City on August 16. According to the police, he was proven to be involved with
illegal drugs. A series of One time, Big time anti-drug operations that was conducted between
August 15-18 made the Grade 11 student one of the 82 casualties in Metro Manila and Bulacan.
This sparked question and doubts on the implementation of President Dutertes war on drugs
campaign. In the session of the Senate, Aguire ruled Kians death as mere collateral damage of
the anti-drug operations of the police. The police directly involved with Kians death are still
undergoing further investigations.
This analysis will deal with the controversy of the President Dutertes take on the war on
illegal drugs and the sudden rise of cases of extra-judicial killings that had happened under his
term. While many countries around the world are dealing with national issues involving illegal
drugs, the focus of this analysis will only be limited to the Philippine setting. Other factors that
may be applicable to this analysis may not be possible on others, especially upon consideration
of differences in sociological, geographical, economical, and cross-cultural aspects.
This analysis was chosen to possibly give light to a lot of the conflicts arising in the
prominence of the problem: to define the problem, to determine the root cause/s of the problem,
and to provide possible solutions for the problem.
Since taking office on June 30, 2016, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has carried
out a war on illegal drugs campaign that has led to the deaths of over 12,000 Filipinos to date,
mostly urban poor. Currently, approximately 3,000 of the extrajudicial killings have been
attributed to the Philippine National Police. Human Rights Watch research has discovered that
the Philippine National Police are directly behind the thousands of cases of alleged intereference
with evidences. This is how the signage Wag tularan, pusher ako gained its morbid status.
Despite increasing pleas for further investigation, Duterte has asserted to continue his campaign.
Nationwide and large-scale extrajudicial killings and violence as a crime solution was the
highlight of Dutertes platform and the heart of his campaign. On the eve of his May 9, 2016
election victory, Duterte told a crowd of more than 300,000: If I make it to the presidential
palace I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup men, and do-nothings, you
better get out because I'll kill you.
Rodrigo Dutertes presidential campaign left with a firm pledge to clean up the drug trade
permanently. Within days of winning the election he launched an anti-drug campaign targeting
anyone suspected of being involved in consumption, production, and circulation of illegal drugs.
In his inaugural address last June 2016, the President vowed to slaughter these idiots for
destroying my country.
True enough, he ordered to have these people killed. The national police estimated that
more than 12,000 people were assassinated by law enforcement, paramilitaries and vigilantes
since 1 July 2016. The police say that at least 2,000 people were shot and killed by officers in
self-defense during anti-drug operations. Statistics shows that around 33 people are killed for
every one person injured, making this the deadliest drug war to date. The president exults in the
bloodbath. He recently boasted of killing suspects during his time as mayor, saying in Davao I
used to do it personally, suggesting that summary and extrajudicial executions are tolerated at
the very top. The mere threat of President Duterte made use of argument that appealed to use
force (Argumentum ad Baculum). His argument disregarded process and went straight to defy the
other parties by his authority to use and implement force.
 The remark also implies the Duterte had utmost confidence that he could use summary
killings and bloodbath to eradicate the drug problem on a national level because he did the same
ruling eradicating the drug problem in Davao. While there is still question if the method worked
in Davao, in the perspective of some, the result of implementation in Davao might have been
more positive than not. Granting that it is true, that does not conclude that the implemented
method could easily work on the national level. In the aspect of nationality, the two areas (Davao
and Philippines) are related because its constituents are both Filipinos. Davao is a part of the
Philippines, but does not represent Philippines as a whole. Therefore, false analogy is committed
by saying that the outcomes of ruling the country by application of the methods used in ruling
Davao would be easily successful. In my opinion, a major cause of all the complications arising
with the controversy of Dutertes drug war platform also lies in the confidence in the idea that
one working solution is the working solution for all.
Hypothetically, if the results of implementation in Davao will be proven more negative
than positive, then there lies an even bigger problem with the analogy. However, basically, the
point of this argument is that however the situation turned out for Davao, it is never safe to
conclude that it would also be the case for the Philippines because Davao is not the best
representation of the country as a whole.
First and foremost, there already lies a problem with the implementation of the rules.
Given that the extra-juducial kilings on people involved with drugs would be justified and would
prove to provide the greatest good for the society and the constituents of this country, the
implementation of President Dutertes take on the war on drugs would still be problematic. Last
September 27, the presidential son and Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte had been linked to a $125
million USD worth of narcotics shipment from China. It was believed that the presidential son
may have helped ease the entry of the shipment at the port in Manila. Senator Antonio Trillanes
showed the Senate panel photographs of Paolo Duterte beside a businessman who was behind the
shipment in which the alleged drugs were found. While the now-President reiterated in his 2016
election campaign that he would have any of his children killed if they would be proven to be a
part of the illegal drug trade, netizens had been outraged by the grant to subject Paolo Duterte to
a due process as compared to Kian de los Santos.
Consequently, it cannot also be concluded that Kian de los Santos is involved with drugs.
Kians case is only one of the thousands of cases wherein there isnt enough proof to render the
people definitely drug-involved, but they were killed anyway. One might also argue that it has
also not been completely proven that Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte is involved with the drugs. That
could also be the case. However, the problem lies between the fact that there is different set of
rules and consequences applied to Kian and Paolo Duterte even if they were both merely alleged
of being involved with drugs. The inconsistency in treating two different people is highly
problematic because it might be linked also to discrimination on poorer people.
According to the concept of utilitarianism, an action is good if it results to welfare of a
greater number of people, thereby maximizing an actions utility. Moreover, the concept of
utilitarianism is subdivided into two: Act utilitarianism and Rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism
is result-oriented. It defines a course of action as morally right only on the premise that it
produces the greater good for the greater number of people regardless of any other factors. On
the other hand, Rule utilitarianism believes an action is morally correct depending on the
rules that allowed it to produce the greatest good. Now, if the concept is to be applied to the main
principle behind the extra-judicial killings, then killing people in any way related to the drug
 chain would be completely wrong. Rule utilitarianism disproves the moral correctness of the
proposition that the drug problems would be eradicated by killing the people in any way related
to the drug chain. The solution imposed may follow Act utilitarian principle on the most ideal
cases. However, there is also argument in the definition of the greater good for the society
because it can always be subjective to each ones opinion.
Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines defines murder as: 1) With
treachery1 taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of armed men, or employing
means to weaken the defense, or of means or persons to insure or afford impunity; 2) In
consideration of a price, reward, or promise; 3) By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion,
shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a railroad, fall of an airship, by
means of motor vehicles, or with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin; 4)
On occasion of any calamities enumerated in the preceding paragraph, or of an earthquake,
eruption of a volcano, destructive cyclone, epidemic, or any other public calamity; 5) With
evident premeditation; and 6) With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the
suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corps. Murder is illegal and
punishable by reclusin perpetua (20 to 40 years' incarceration). Without any of these six
conditions, killings would be considered homicide which is also punishable by law with
reclusin temporal.
Therefore, police killing individuals without due process is definable as murder with
treachery. In cases that the killing would not meet any of the six conditions mentioned to rule it
as murder, it would still be considered homicide and still punishable by law. The solution
violates the concept of Rule utilitarianism, even when the solution implemented is one believed
to promote greater good through incapacitating the drug-involved people by killing them.
Finally, the whole war on drugs campaign will only highly likely promote corruption.
The threat of death often only cultivates fear. Thus, corruption occurs when a high-profile
individual involved in drugs bribes his/her way on the rule of law. Only a high-profile individual
has the capability to release bribes in exorbitantly large amount or value. In consequence, the
susceptibility to sanctions and defenseless death would only be limited to the people without the
capability to bribe, or those without high-profile connections to work with. Therefore, this
solution does not only leave the drug war unresolved; it also paves way for corruption to create a
bigger division between the defenseless and the rich. This is a proof of Karl Marxs remark that
the history of society is the history of class struggle.
Generally, the solution to be implied should be more deontological than teleological. It should
have a more holistic approach than merely focus on the end goal and disregard its process. In my
perspective, the problem also lies within the lack of studies involving the solution on the war on
illegal drugs. The solution, which involved murder of people in any way related to the drug
chain, does not solve the issue from its roots. While individuals involved in drugs are being
killed, the current trend would only prove it true for lower-profile individuals. Seemingly, there
are still exceptions to the rule like Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.

1
The attack comes without a warning and in a swift, deliberate, and unexpected manner, affording the hapless, unarmed, and
unsuspecting victim no chance to resist or escape. For treachery to be considered, two elements must concur: (1) the employment of
means of execution that gives the persons attacked no opportunity to defend themselves or retaliate; and (2) the means of execution
were deliberately or consciously adopted
 One could imply that the more individuals get killed, the lesser would remain involved
with drugs; and if there are lesser people involved in drugs, there is lesser chance the drug trade
would prevail. On ideal and basic circumstances, this might prove to be true. However, there are
still other socio-economic aspects to be considered. Belief that the argument is true in reality and
in all aspects is to implore the Slippery Slope fallacy. The solution does not clearly conclude that
the activity of the drug businesses would lie down in return. It is highly likely that there would
be still be newer set of people to abuse drugs, or newer set of people to push drugs for faster way
to increase income. The summary is that there would still be a cycle of illegal drug users and
pushers if the solution implemented would not target the production of illegal drugs.
Since the current method on the war on drugs has been implemented without further
consultation and with disregard for reason, in my opinion, the best way to come up with a
solution is to be consultative and reasonable. There are groups of sociologists, philosophers,
psychologists, and economists that have scientific and cultural based insights on the bigger
problem and root cause concerning the illegal drug trade. Proper coordination with the different
experts and government agencies has a better chance in resolving a problem -- any problem for
that matter. As mentioned, the threat of death, or any form of negative reinforcement that is
extremely unreasonable only cultivates fear. While discipline is its goal, it does not always come
with enforced fear. Cultivation of fear creates two extreme outcomes: either perceived discipline,
or rebellion. We should not enforce something unsure and without basis on a national level if we
want to decrease crimes and achieve peace.
According to the concept of Humanism, an action is right, if and only if, of all possible
courses of actions, it is the one most likely to promote the development of human potential. An
action is morally wrong if it does the reverse. On that note, there is no way development is
possible for an individual that is already dead. The human development is hereby reversed if the
individual is killed because it means that the human do not have the chance at holistic growth
anymore. It also causes problems under the principle that a crime does not resolve another crime.
The national order on extrajudicial executions only makes it okay for the masses to commit
murder unreasonably. Humanist ethics on justice also serves the primary function to promote
human development through the provision of more opportunities and benefits for its members,
where without government intervention they will not be able to develop their human potentials at
all. Thus, I strongly believe that there are more humane ways in which we can eradicate the
problem on illegal drugs without having to commit murder.
Finally, in dealing with illegal drug addiction, we should first stop demonizing drug use
per se. While it is unlawful to abuse illegal drugs and even more unlawful to commit crimes
under the influence of these illegal drugs, we should also recognize that abuse of illegal drugs is
also psychological. This is not to say that criminals under the influence of drugs should be above
the law. These criminals should still receive the corresponding punishment assigned to the crime
they committed. The mere point of this argument is to impart that we should also understand that
drug use and abuse is a mere sickness as any sickness there is. According to PDEA or Philippine
Drug Enforcement Authority, there are approximately 4.7 million drug personalities in the
Philippines as of 2017. The figure was reportedly computed based on estimates that there is one
drug personality in every eight households in the country. For drug users, these illegal drugs are
an instrumental good. For the most part, these drugs are consumed mostly for the purpose of
elation, euphoria, or as a means to escape the reality of poverty. We should acknowledge the fact
that illegal drug use is a sickness as real as flu, but not as simple as it. Illegal drug use and abuse
is a complex disease and requires an extensive treatment.
On that note, I think that the country should be more involved in rehabilitation and easier
access to cure. According to the statistics, drug abuse in youth is at an approximate of any may
be directly linked to the lack of opportunities at education or a job. Crimes under the influence of
illegal drugs may also be directly linked to poverty, especially in cases that the crime is
committed for the purpose of sustaining drug abuse. Fighting the drug menace is a tedious and
complicated task, but is achievable if everyone vows to work with one another with honesty,
professionalism and integrity.
References:

Adaza, Homobono. A. (2016, July 13). Extreme problems need extreme solutions: The case of
illegal drugs and graft and corruption. Retrieved November 26, 2017, from
http://www.manilatimes.net/extreme-problems-need-extreme-solutions-the-case-of-illegal-drugs-
and-graft-and-corruption/273587/

Manuel Mogato and Clare Baldwin, Special Report: Police Describe Kill Rewards, Staged
Crime Scenes in Dutertes Drug War, Reuters, April 18, 2017,
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-duterte-police-specialrep-idUSKBN17K1F4.

Nicole Curato, In the Philippines, All the Presidents People, The New York Times, May 31,
2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/opinion/philippines-rodrigo-duterte.html.

Nemko, M. (2016, June 02). What's Up With Illegal Drug Use? Retrieved November 30, 2017,
from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-do-life/201606/what-s-illegal-drug-use

Rishi Iyengar, The Killing Time: Inside Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's War on
Drugs, Time, August 24, 2016, http://time.com/4462352/rodrigo-duterte-drug-war-drugs-
philippines-killing/.

See, for example, Human Rights Watch, Philippines: Police Deceit in Drug War Killings,
March 2, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/02/philippines-police-deceit-drug-war-
killings; and Amnesty International, Philippines: The Police's Murderous War on the Poor,
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/01/philippines-the-police-murderous-war-on-the-
poor/.

Yambao, J., Ma. Reina Leanne Tolentino (2017). Reflections on President Dutertes war on
drugs - The Manila Times Online. [online] The Manila Times Online. Available at:
http://www.manilatimes.net/reflections-president-dutertes-war-drugs/326980/