DUYA, Hazel Ann Marie R.

ISP- 103 Section 1

ESTRADA, Lexine Caye G. 11:30 – 2:30
VAZQUEZ, Zarina Marie E.
YABUT, Madelaine Mae DC.

Conflict Analysis: Philippines’ War on Drugs

Since Rodrigo Duterte became the president, Philippines has experienced an increase in violence
and crimes against humanity. He has launched a War on Drugs with a belief that drug dealing and
addiction has been a “major obstacle” that the country is currently facing. Starting on June 2016, there
have been extrajudicial deaths of thousands of alleged drug dealers and users across the country. In fact,
as of 9 January 2017, 4,146 were killed outside of police operations. In addition, there have been issues
that Duterte’s war on drugs is a war on the poor. Thus, it is significant to know the underlying context and
human rights consequences in order to gain deeper understanding of the conflict. To analyze, we will then
look at profile, causes, actors, and its dynamics and use a combination of Galtung’s DSC triangle
framework and conflict tree.

PROFILE

War on Drugs refers to the policy against the illegal drug trade in the Philippines. It is considered
as the foundation of President Duterte’s domestic policies and a continuation of the policies he
implemented when he was still the mayor of Davao City. During his time as a mayor, he has ordered a
crackdown on crimes and criminality focusing on drug issues similar to what he has confirmed to do since
the campaign period. For him, it is to develop political, economic, and social contexts of the country as he
sees drug dealing and addiction as a major threat to peace and order of the country. While there are
problems in the country such as corruption and extreme poverty, the effects of the war on drugs has
proven to be bigger and has caused for new political, economic, and social issues to emerge.

First is in the political context. As known, the government’s main role is to uphold due process
and the rule of law. However, due to fighting the drug war through all means available, they have resort
to illegal actions killing about 13,000 up to date. The underlying issue here is that the government has
become self-contradictory. While they enforce the laws for the people to follow, they are the ones who
break them as well. Thus, it lessens the government’s credibility as they take on criminals with the same
method the latter are doing. Furthermore, as there is a corrupt, elite-dominated political system and
ineffective judicial and human rights institutions, people have tolerated the administration’s political
campaign. There are no trials and due process, hence, there are no concrete evidence proving the illegal
killings.

As this political situation is now in place, it has affected economic context, specifically the
business climate, in which influence investor sentiments. Although other factors determine inflow of
investments, the extrajudicial and vigilante killings of the war on drugs can weaken Duterte’s political
capital and cause a long-term impact on the growth of the country of more than 6% last administration.
Alongside this is the issue of using government’s funds in order to kill people, especially the poor. As of
January 2017, the allocated fund for the anti-drug campaign is over PHP 900 million. Rather than treating
drug addicts as sick and allocate the funds for their treatment and rehabilitation, they use it as to eradicate
them. Drug dealers and drug addicts are considered a stigmatized group, thus, they have a trouble
acquiring political support for the defense and protection of their rights as human beings.

Third is in the social context. The war on drugs has gained a lot of popular support from the
Filipinos. In fact, according to a recent nationwide survey on presidential performance and trust ratings
from September 25 to October 1 by Pulse Asia Research revealed that Duterte’s approval rating was
about 86%. Despite being concerned with the deaths, they support him with his positions on other issues
such as on his anti-poverty programs and policies. Due to these, many Filipinos have failed to see how the
drug war has concentrated among the marginalized. Also, they have ignored how the anti-poverty
programs are no longer focused on addressing the deeper causes of disorder, which are poverty, lack of
education, lack of livelihood and resources for the poor to survive. Instead, the programs are on fighting
crimes in conflict-affected areas where mostly the poor live. Thus, this shows how the government no
longer prioritizes social safety nets of the poor. Rather, they choose “to kill the poor”.

Lastly is the cultural context. As aforementioned, drug dealers and addicts are viewed through the
lens of criminal justice. They are seen as problems of the society without taking into consideration the
root causes of their situation. Historically, it has never been viewed as an illness in part because the ones
mostly affected are the poor. In fact, according to a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS),
three out of five people believe that only the poor are killed while those with connections and money can
get out of the situation. Thus, has resulted to the ideology that the campaign against drugs is really “a war
against the poor.”

CAUSES

The current administration’s war on drugs has several causes of conflict. Among these causes is
the lack of social order within the country. There are an increasing percentage of people who are
becoming dissatisfied due to the failure of the previous administrations to maintain stability and order of
the country. There is rampant corruption in the government, tedious processes in the agencies and
institutions, increasing gap between the rich and the poor and a lot of people living below the poverty
line. Along with these, there is an increasing number of crimes and struggles in which was claimed by
President Duterte to be associated with drug dealing and addiction in the country. As it was seen as a
“major obstacle” or an impediment to the country, the President chose to resort to violence in eradicating
the said problem.

Secondly, there is an abuse of power of those who were authorized to conduct the drug
operations. There were a lot of reports that the operations made by the police were planned and staged.
The victims were almost always reportedly found with the same evidences such as packets of shabu and a
gun that they claim as something used against them. Almost all the cases were ruled out as self-defense
shootings for there was never enough evidence or even footages to prove them otherwise. Having said so,
the call of Duterte for the police to totally eradicate drug users and dealers enabled them to do anything
and everything according to their will. Thus, conflict, along with the death toll of the war on drugs
continues to heighten as it remains operational.

In connection with the abuse of power, there are also intelligences that police were allegedly paid
huge amount of money for each killing. This signifies that money and greed is also a cause for the
conflict caused by the war on drugs. According to some interviews shared with Reuters, “ The monetary
awards for each killing are alleged to rise to 20,000 pesos ($400) for a street pusher, 50,000 pesos ($990)
for a member of a neighborhood council, one million pesos ($20,000) for distributors, retailers, and
wholesalers, and five million ($100,000) for “drug lords.” Alarmingly, the number of people killed in the
war, which might be rooted from the pursuit of money of those in power, is still increasing. Given that,
conflict still aggravates because of the greediness of people which leads them into using violence to make
them more powerful and authoritative.

Some other causes of conflict can also be the arousing of emotions and anger which can also
contribute to further escalation of conflict. Duterte’s remarks such as “We will not stop until the last drug
lord ... and the last pusher have surrendered or are put either behind bars or below the ground, if they so
wish,” and “Do your duty, and if in the process you kill 1,000 persons because you were doing your duty,
I will protect you (to the police)” intensifies the need for violence to be used as means in order to resolve
his war on drugs. Based on what he says, those who are involved in drugs are treated as problem or major
obstacles of our country which needs to be addressed. He literally gives consent to the police to conduct
the drug operations and execute them immediately. These statements, along with the many other remarks
he has said in support for the war on drugs, induces a culture of normalization of violence and conflict
within the country, thus, can contribute to further escalation of the conflict.

In addition to those aforementioned, another factor that can be said to help in prolonging the
conflict is the high level of support of people to the current administration. During the second quarter of
2017 (June 2017), Duterte got a net satisfaction rating of +66 in a survey conducted by the Social
Weather System. This was considered as a very good performance by SWS, which means that a lot of
Filipino people still support his campaigns, projects and plans. His promise of change ever since the
campaign period still makes the Filipinos hopeful that there will be a transformation of our society. As a
result of this, conflict, which is caused by the war on drugs, can be said to be supported by a lot of
Filipinos.

On the other hand, there are still factors that can contribute peace amidst the ongoing conflict in
the Philippine society. These are reformation of the policies when it comes to addressing the drug market
and users within the country and strong adherence to due process. Policies that are made to control the
drug markets should be strictly implemented. These should be according to the law and should promote
the rights of the people at all times. Furthermore, drug surrenderees should be given attention and not just
be put behind bars. Rehabilitation can be one of the ways to help improve our country, rather than
violence, which just propagates to the cycle of violence. Lastly, everyone should undergo a fair treatment
with regards the law regardless of an individual’s class, gender and capability. Overall, these can pave
way not only into improving the country peace and order, but also, towards protecting the welfare of the
each and every Filipino citizen.

ACTORS

The main actors of the war on drugs are mainly between the government’s administration and the
poor. Specifically, in the administration, they are President Duterte, General Bato Dela Rosa and
politicians who are allies of these men. President Duterte was elected only last year and yet he has given
tremendous effects on the lives of the Filipinos in a negative way. He has several allegiances with certain
politicians who are given power due to their loyalty. On the other side, the poor are the millions of
Filipinos living with less than Php 200 a day. They are part of the marginalized sector and has a poverty
incidence of 26.3% which would be around 26 million Filipinos (Philippine Statistics Agency, 2015).
Each actor in the war on drugs has different interests, goals, positions, capacities and relationship. The
interest of the government is to detain and criminalize the war on drugs but their capacities or means are
to use the police force. This action has taken up arms against the poor which has led to extrajudicial
killings. There is a view that the interests of the government is not to condone the acts but is encouraging
the police to point their guns to the alleged drug pushers or users living in the slums. It is contradictory to
the responsibility of the government to protect its people. The reason is they are the sector that the people
fear of now and not the sector where they seek protection from. The interests of the poor is to survive
their impoverished state. There are cases that some of the poor do act on illegal drug trade or use but there
is no legal fact that would determine them from the millions living in the informal settlements. Their
position on the war on drugs is they are not tried on any court to be guilty of such crime rather they are
apprehended and slaughtered for the interest of the administration of ending the spread of drugs. The list
of victims of these acts are continuous and some names are publicly known such as Kian delos Santos.
Kian was allegedly marked as a drug pusher thus, he was shot point blank by the police. He is an example
of the poor affected by this war on drugs which makes him part of this unhindered violence. Furthermore,
this marginalized sector is deemed by the supporters of the administration and the administration itself as
plague of this society. They were generally marked as drug users without rational reasoning. As this is the
case, the poor is targeted and not the root of the drug problem who are the affluent drug cartels.

Relationships between the two main actors or sectors are in a great divide. They only encounter
each other when the police force raid these slums and trigger the poor. The administration does not open
itself to the poor which rattles the relationship. The poor are people who have the same rights as the
people of the administration are not of equal footing. This means there is an impression of higher
superiority of the administration in controlling the life of the poor. It then causes distress among the poor.
And, not only distress but of fear of life from the protector of life itself.

Capacities for compromise and cooperation between the actors are only seen within the
perimeters of their allies. The administration circulates power among its allies in the government alone.
This is seen when extra-judicial killings are of topic in the Senate inquiry and interviews of president.
The President neither condones nor affiliates itself to the extrajudicial killings but pursues to continue the
war of drugs. This creates an indirect understanding of the police force to continue such acts of slaughter
on the poor. The administration only cooperates to the surrenders of the drug users but those who do not
are targeted for extrajudicial killing. This creates no cooperation at all even for the poor who are not
connected to illegal drugs but are still in fear and hunted. Compromise is barely possible as the police
force are the instruments of the administration and their minds are conditioned to shoot and kill against
the alleged drug pusher/users or even just the poor.

The administration is a spoiler to the rights of the poor. They are the ones who prevent the poor
the right to life by using the police force to end their life without any crime committed nor rational reason
or evidence to be apprehended. The administration has caused further disruption to the toilsome survival
of the poor in the society. In this context, it seemed that they intended to continue these acts due to a weak
judiciary system and having the president as a proponent of the war of drugs. The poor is then left at a
disadvantage as they are the receiver of such violence and lack the means of tackle their difficult situation
of living in fear and terror from the government.

DYNAMICS

The conflict about the War on Drugs escalated due to dissatisfaction of people and the current
President to the former administration. Presence of instability and lack of social order are prevalent due to
the increasing number of crime rate in the country. Duterte viewed drugs as the major cause of crimes that
should addressed immediately. In this said, the campaign on the eradication of drug related cases has been
one of his main platforms in order to bring peace and order in our society. However, even though his
campaign is good, there are reports on the ongoing presence of the culture of impunity and violence that
became a great factor for further escalation of the problem. Duterte commanded the police officers to
capture people related to using and selling drugs. He also stated that if there is a presence of violent
resistance, police officers have the blessing and support to shoot drug lords, pushers, users and addicts to
death. Due to this reason, it has been said that some police officers are authoritative and abusive of their
power. Some news or reports narrated that police officials allegedly receive incentives or payments
whenever they kill someone involved in drug operations thus resulting to cases of extrajudicial killings.

Another conflict trend present in War on Drugs is the utmost support of the masses to the current
administration. The issue on War on Drugs has been heightening because of the approval of most people
in this campaign. Normalization of killings is eminent for the masses believe that people involved in drug
operations deserve to die. They believe that killing is the easiest way possible in eliminating the heinous
problem in our country. Furthermore, even though there are allegations on vigilante killings or
extrajudicial killings, supporters conclude that it is better to kill thousands of people for the safety of the
million ones.

Upon assessing the profile and causes of conflict as well as the actors involved, best case, middle
case and worst case scenarios can be determined from this analysis. With the given context on the issue
on War on Drugs, the eradication of drug-related issues can be of the best outcome of this campaign.
Duterte’s administration placed War on Drugs as the topmost priority in order to bring social order in the
Philippines. In addition, after the eradication of drug-related cases, it will lead to the lessening of crime
rates and bring about peace and stability in our community. Furthermore, Duterte sees the use of violence
as the only and easiest way to instill fear among people and be able to inculcate discipline among the
citizens of our country. In this said, people would be afraid of committing crimes for they have developed
the fear of being penalized for doing something against the law.

For the middle case or also known as the status quo scenario, the ongoing campaign on War on
Drugs will lead to the normalization of conflict and violence. Due to the presence of extrajudicial killings
that are happening in the country, people will be used to seeing dead people on the streets and would not
mind if these people are really involved in drug related cases. For them, it is better to just kill the people
that will just bring burden in the society. Even after this campaign has ended, the act of killing will be an
ordinary response to eliminate free loaders and criminal offenders in the country.

From the given context of the War on Drugs issue, the worst case scenario that can be derived
from this is the involvement of innocent ones. Because of the absence of due process in the campaign
against drug-related cases, people who are innocent can be killed and sentenced to death even though they
are not really involved in any drug operations. Most of these innocent ones may come from the lower
class of the society since they do not have enough power and are easily manipulated by the authorities.
Also, one great factor that may contribute to achieving this worst case scenario is the greediness in wealth
and power of the police officials. In order to be in position and to gain more money, police officers might
accuse innocent people, especially the poorer ones, to be involved in a crime they did not commit just to
aim what they want.

DSC TRIANGLE OF GALTUNG

CONFLICT TREE
CONCLUSION

Duterte’s war on drugs has unleashed a human rights calamity. The illegal killings has brought a
decline on the fundamental rights of the people to due process and rule of law. While there are problems
in the previous administration such as corruption and the widening gap of the rich and poor, the war on
drugs has worsened not only the social context but also political, economic, and cultural contexts. The
root causes of this include but not all are abuse of power, greed, political instability and lack of social
order. The causes of this led to an arise for a solution which is the war on drugs. The occurrence of the
war cannot be morally or legally be justified due to their means. But, the administration, who is one of the
actors in this context, legitimize the means of using police force. The receiving end of this violence are
poor. They are the people being accused of drug related crimes. Upon analyzing the context of the
conflict as well as the relations of actors involved, different scenarios can be derived from this issue. The
best case scenario would be the eradication of drug-related crimes in the country. On the other hand, the
middle case scenario would be the normalization of the culture of impunity and violence. In addition, the
worst case scenario that can be depicted from War on Drugs might be the involvement of innocent
people, specifically the poorer ones, because of the lack of due process in the judiciary system.
 The current government’s war on drugs can be depicted using Galtung’s DSC triangle. The direct
violence present within the said issue are extrajudicial killings, human rights violations and lack of trial
and due process. These were the violence committed by the actors of the conflict, in this case, the police
and those in power. Structural violence, on the other hand, are characterized by the violence that are built
within the structure of the society. How this war is perceived as the “War against the poor” and the drug
pushers or users considered as the problems of our society shows that there is inequality especially
between people possessing power and those who have none, thus, creating structural violence within the
society. Lastly, there is also an underlying cultural violence that is caused by the issue. These are the high
criminal rate, abusive policemen, corruption of our government officials, weakness of the country’s
human rights institutions elite-led political system and inefficient judicial system. Altogether, these three
types of violence forms part of the violence caused by Duterte’s war on drugs. This signifies that the
killings or the direct forms of violence that this war has caused were not the only the main proponents of
this phenomenon, rather it is causing threats and violence interconnected to each and every Filipino’s
lives.

Along with this, the conflict tree presents root causes, core problem and effects of the issue. The
core problem that is at the center of all is the presence of extrajudicial killings on Duterte’s Campaign on
war on drugs. The root causes of the problem is seen at the bottom of the tree. Some of the root causes are
the abuse of power, inequality, lack of social order and weak judiciary system. These are just some of the
evident and observable foreseen justification to invoke the use of extrajudicial killings on the war on
drugs. The consequences of such acts are seen in the effects which are located at the leaves and branches
of the tree. Some of the effects are the fear for life, increasing number of casualties and human rights
violation. Overall, the conflict tree analyzes the war on drugs based on organizing the context using cause
and effect.
REFERENCES:

https://www.cfr.org/interview/human-rights-and-dutertes-war-drugs
https://www.sws.org.ph/swsmain/artcldisppage/?artcsyscode=ART-20170706173742
https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/the-human-rights-consequences-of-the-war-on-drugs-in-the-
philippines/
http://time.com/4495896/philippine-president-rodrigo-duterte/

https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145814-numbers-statistics-philippines-war-drugs

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=the-killings-and-the-impact-on-
investments-and-growth&id=132276

https://www.rappler.com/nation/181451-dilg-pnp-budget-war-on-drugs-brosas