Bicol University

Institute of Design and Architecture

GEC 18 - ETHICS
MODULE ONE
LEARNING OUTPUT

i. GM1 : Joizan Wrianne Blanche, BS Architecture 2E

ii. GM2 : Clarke Kent Lopez, BS Architecture 2E
iii. GM3 : Ma. Danica Malate, BS Architecture 2E
iv. GM4 : Angela Marie B. Mar, BS Architecture 2E

Marck Zaldy O. Camba

Professor
 ARTICLES ANALYZED/ REFERENCES:
We picked more than one article since the topic requires an in-depth analysis.

FROM BBC.COM

FROM INQUIRE.NET

FROM RAPPLER.COM
 Ding,
ang bato!
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte began his reign with promises of eradicating the Philippines'
drug related crimes or abuse in the span of only six months which was later on extended. To
no surprise at all, Duterte's "war on drugs" quickly escalated from strict implementation to a
violent and bloody operation. 712 people died seven weeks after the crackdown commenced.
The carnage was exactly what Duterte envisioned and planned as he said so during his
campaign period. As the number of deaths continue to rise, the Commission on Human
Rights started to question the evident injustices of this whole operation. People who are
suspected drug pushers or users are being shot to death without having the chance to
undergo the due process indicated on the Philippine Constitution. This is what extrajudicial
killing pertains to. EJK is execution done by an agent of the state where the victim has no
benefit of judicial proceedings. With Duterte stating that he is giving the police force a
"license to kill", human rights activists are greatly alarmed. The case of Kian Delos Santos
along with a lot more cases ignited the opposition on the war on drugs. As seen from the
evidence, 17- year-old Kian was shot even after falling to his knees begging for mercy. This
case has raised queries whether the police are really killing civilians who did not even fight
back which is in contrary of what they are constantly reiterating: they killed suspects as an act
of defense "nanlaban kasi". On the other side of the story however, recent surveys on EJK, as
stated in the Daily Inquirer, showed 73% of the respondents believe that there is indeed
extrajudicial killings taking place yet 88% of them still proclaimed their support for Duterte's
war on drugs. This result plus the administrations good approval and trust ratings led
Presidential Harry Roque to speculate that people are okay with the killings. This EJK issue,
therefore, is undeniably a matter of ethics and poses a great moral dilemma since being
against, being passive, or being an enabler of EJK in the country will greatly reflect the values
of the Filipino people as well as the profoundness of their regard for the rule of law. This
issue also encompasses the regard for human life and under what circumstance would
people deem the killing of someone as okay. To create a more plausible moral analysis, we
must delve deeper into the different attitudes in the face of EJK and identify the reason
behind their stand. Human rights, presumption of innocence, and the vitality of undergoing
due process are the key principles that moves people to continuously contradict and put a
stop to War on Drugs induced EJK. Since the mentioned survey showed that there are those
who still support war on drugs while also aware of the unjustifiable killings, we can assume
that those individuals are complacent that all thousands of people who died in the fight
against drugs deserved to die or are guilty. In an attempt to understand where this kind of
mentality stems from, we tried to determine some of their suppositions. The most intriguing
one is the belief that the death of one criminal will save lives and the eradication of drug
users or pushers will hinder more crimes from happening. Although it presents an argument,
it completely overlooked the fact that most victims were not yet legally convicted and did not
even had the chance to go to trial. In weighing out the two opposing principles, we go back to
our universal moral law and the law that governs this country. The act of murder will always
be immoral since it involves violating the right to life. On the other hand, the Philippine
Constitution Article III or the Bill of Rights states that no one should be deprived of life or
liberty without due process of law and that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused is
presumed innocent until proven guilty. In the case of this war on drugs related extrajudicial
killings, mere statements like a suspect was killed because he posed great danger that led the
arresting officer to defend himself is not enough justification and must still undergo impartial
investigations.
 OTHER REFERENCES:

Iyengar, R. (2016, August 25). The killing time: Inside Rodrigo Duterte's Drug War. Time.
Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://time.com/4462352/rodrigo-duterte-drug-
war-drugs-philippines-killing/

Official Gazette. (2020). THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
– ARTICLE III | GOVPH. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines.
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1987-constitution-of-the-
republic-of-the-philippines/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-
article-iii/#:~:text=Section%201.