UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

THE PONTIFICAL AND ROYAL CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

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Senior High School
Humanities and Social Sciences Strand
A.Y. 2021-2022 TERM 2
Third Quarter

An Analysis of Extrajudicial Killings in the

Ethical and Political Lens of Philosophy

Submitted by:

Denolo, Gracesea Marie B.

Fabello, Mary Jazheree A.
Tagura, Carl Jeram P.
Tominez, Anthony Prince N. II
Turano, Liara Elisha A.
Group 6
11HUMSS-10

Submitted to:
Sir Wendell Allan Marinay

March 5, 2022
 Extrajudicial killings (EJK) violate numerous human rights, and thousands of people were killed
without having the chance to fight for their rights. This raises a philosophical discussion in terms of
ethics, with EJK being morally wrong due to the violation of human rights, and in politics due to the
unjust order in the society due to the war on drugs.

The alarming number of human rights violations emphasized the neglect and its repercussions to
the lives of every Filipino people. It started with the hope for a change and better administration but
resulted in devastating unjustified killings. The right to life was once again compromised by the imposed
drug war, claiming that this would help prevent crimes caused by drug addicts. However, in the sad truth
of reality, the one affected the most are the weak, poor and have no power to stand by their rights. In
conjunction with the extrajudicial killings that had been widespread in the Philippines, it also calls the
attention of its ethical and political relation in the lens of Philosophy.

To expound, Ethics and Politics are both branches of Philosophy. Ethics or also called moral in
Philosophy is the discipline that is concerned with the goodness and badness of an act. It consists of the
methods by which human actions can be classified as right or wrong. In the Philippines, one of the
foundations of morality is the influence of the Catholic Church, and it is inevitable for both the Church
and the State to have different beliefs and ideologies. To be exact, EJK was indeed against what is morally
right and to preserve order in society, but Duterte's administration was at fault for not handling this
dilemma with respect to every individual’s human rights and the ineffective strategy to cease crimes.
Hence, in this unethical approach of the administration, we stand to support that extrajudicial killing is a
contemporary issue that must come to an end.

On another note, politics is the branch of philosophy that mainly deals with how to execute power
for a good cause in order to build a sustainable and enhanced environment and community for human life.
In relation to 'BuyBust', this film can fall under both ethics and politics, as it exhibits and depicts several
contemporary issues in the Philippines – such as the devastating social consequences of War on Drugs,
the corruption that is massively occurring in our country, and the Extrajudicial Killings which, as
mentioned before, brutally violates human rights – which are all brought about by how humans think and
behave according to their morals and/or hunger for power.

In the film, not only drug pushers and sellers are involved in the illegal trading of drugs, but there
are also several narcotic officers who turn out to also be doing dirty and unlawful practices. In addition,
the film also symbolizes the morality of killing where humans are capable of anything, including murder,
just to live and survive regardless of how violent and gruesome it can be. In this context, we can say that
the philosophy of ethics is applied here due to characters’ discernment of what is morally right and wrong
and how they act upon it. We all know that a cop or a police officer has a big responsibility in serving
their people and their nation, as they are in charge of maintaining the public's safety and order, enforcing
the law, and preventing any form of criminal activities.

We can also see in the film that Manigan and her team, who were trapped in the maze-like hell
hole slum with drug dealers, their fellow narcotic officers who appear to be crooked, and the civilians
who were in rage, had a change of plan and decided to just escape and kill everyone against all odds.
Forced killings have begun and various weapons have been used to kill: shotguns, knives, and pistols.
Moral values and beliefs were slowly stripped away as they had no choice but to escape death for the sake
of surviving. Other drug dealers and cops, and even a number of innocent residents have been killed. This
could be interpreted in Duterte's reality that no matter how "good" humans are, there will always be a
breaking point, leading them to make bad choices that would only benefit them at the moment. One
example of this is the policemen who shoot innocent civilians to kill just for the purpose of reaching their
“quota” of drug dealers caught. This just proves that humans, particularly some police officers, choose to
disregard the standard ethics that are set by the community as long as they get advantages from what they
think is morally right.

Furthermore, in terms of the philosophy of politics, Eric Matti, the director of BuyBust, was able
to prove what it is to live in a society where the lower class are stuck between the higher class, the
authorities, and the drug cartels in chaos where they seem to dominate and consider themselves as the
king of the neighborhood.

In 2018, despite the rising international criticisms, President Rodrigo Duterte continued his
violent war on drugs. 4,948 suspected drug users and dealers perished during police operations between
July 1, 2016 and September 2018, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. However, the
number doesn’t include the people who were killed by unidentified assailants, amounting to thousands of
victims. A few known cases of the extrajudicial killings are the deaths of teenagers Kian Delos Santos,
Carl Arnaiz, and Reynaldo de Guzman who were shot to death in August 2016 during an “anti-drug”
operation. 22,983 deaths are being classified as homicides under investigation, according to the Philippine
National Police. The methods used for the killings were done by the police invading homes to seize
supposed drug dealers or users, who would then be reported to be dead rather than taken into custody,
with the police claiming that they acted upon self-defense.
 Extrajudicial killings are the taking of a person's life without the guarantees of the due process of
law. Victims of extrajudicial killings were not given an opportunity to undergo legal processes, they were
immediately sentenced to death without even giving them an opportunity to present their side to an
impartial tribunal. The violent killings are an evident violation of the international human rights law,
wherein the Philippines is legally bound under. Extrajudicial killings have violated the non-derogable
human right to life, and the violation itself is the forefront of their agenda. Other human rights have been
violated as well, including the right to a fair trial, rights of the victim's families, the right to health, and the
inmates’ rights for decent treatment.

In a journal written by Raymund J. Festin, SVD, from the PHAVISMINDA Journal in 2018, it is
stated that the Filipinos who are in favor of the extrajudicial killings as the solution to illegal drug cases
unconsciously fall into the fallacy of faulty deduction. Festin (2018) explained the error through the
logical illustration: X is a part of Y, and Y possesses the property Z. As a result, X possesses the attribute
Z. In line with this logical thought process, let X be the neighbor, Y be the drug addict, and let Z be the
criminal. The neighbor (X) is a drug addict (Y). Users of illegal drugs (Y) are more prone to committing
crimes like murder (Z). Therefore, the neighbor (Y) is a murderer (Z). It is true that some drug addicts
commit crimes, however, it is not verified nor confirmed that all drug addicts commit crimes like rape and
murder. Due to the extrajudicial killings, the right to fair trial was violated, as evident when people were
killed unjustly just because they were suspected to be involved during anti-drug operations.

President Duterte's drug war, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
has resulted in "several systematic human rights breaches" in the Philippines, including the deaths of 208
human rights defenders and activists since 2015. Since Rodrigo Duterte's election as president in 2016,
the Philippines has been dealing with an EJK problem, though the cases mostly were from the NCR
gradually over the years it has spread throughout the country. President Duterte on numerous times
propagated the idea that everyone who was a victim of the EJK is worthless but also that killing and
murdering these “drug users” without due process is okay. In response to this situation, concern and
outrage have been expressed all throughout the world, especially in the Philippines. In the Philippines, the
Catholic Church is one of the most vocal opponents of the EJK. 86% of Filipinos are Catholic, this has
influenced their moral standing and judgment about the situation. This EJK, whether Catholic or not, can
never be justified because it infringes human rights that include the right to life, liberty, and security. It
also goes against all ethics since, despite what high government officials maintain, it is not in the best
interests of the people.
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