Many Americans are up in arms again after two more apparently unarmed black men were shot down by policemen. Protests in Charlotte, North Carolina have turned violent and North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory had to declare a state of emergency after a protester was shot and a policeman was injured on the second night of protests.
Earlier in Tulsa, Oklahoma, another unarmed black man was shot dead by the police and protests have also mounted. For several months now, protests have mounted all over the United States over police killings of mostly black men, which have triggered the Black Lives Matter movement. Every single police-involved shooting have been met with violent protests, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to St. Paul, Minnesota.
The United States is a bastion of freedom and democracy and Americans value human rights, due process and the rule of law. That’s why even a single incident that shows disrespect for human rights and disregard for due process and the rule of law is met with massive protests.
In the Philippines, more than 3,000 suspected drug dealers and users have been gunned down in cold blood both by police and vigilantes and just a few howls of protest have been heard. Instead, the daily murders have been met with cheers and approval, with the murderers offered words of praise and the perpetrators given high approval ratings for their “achievement.”
Angered by the proliferation of illegal drugs and the increasing number of young people addicted to them, many Filipinos are willing to turn a blind eye on the disregard for due process, the rule of law and perhaps, even their hard-fought freedom in the name of peace and order, if you can call the current state of lawless violence, culture of impunity, and of lifeless bodies left daily on the streets a peaceful and orderly society.
Emboldened by the seeming public approval and nonchalance, presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo, whose clients include Ampatuan massacre accused Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and double murder accused Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez, among others, is now tinkering with the possibility of granting President Duterte extraordinary powers through a “constitutional dictatorship.”
Such a dictatorship, Panelo says, would give his boss power over both the executive and legislative branches of government, exactly the same powers that the late President Ferdinand Marcos had for the duration of martial law, during which time the late strongman abolished Congress and exercised sole legislative functions through presidential decrees.
And Panelo says it’s all constitutional, in other words not a mockery of the constitution because, he said, the charter would be amended to give the President the expanded powers. How can you argue with that kind of thinking? So, if murder is illegal, just amend the Revised Penal Code and scrap it from the list of punishable crimes and it becomes perfectly legal. No wonder the Philippine justice system is in disarray because many lawyers think like Panelo.
Even during the presidential campaign, Duterte had shown a strong dislike for Congress and a tendency towards strongman rule. He threatened to abolish Congress if elected president if it blocks his reform agenda. Prior to his swearing in, he basically threatened media when he declared that corrupt media men are open to assassination.
In late April just a few days before the elections, in a visit to an NPA camp to facilitate the release of five policemen held hostage by the communist rebels, Duterte said he plans to install a revolutionary government because, he said, Congress can no longer address the country’s problems. He said he would “revolt from the inside,” which reminds us of Marcos’ own calls for a revolution from within prior to suspending the writ of habeas corpus and declaring martial law.
Duterte has also shown he cannot handle criticisms and a dislike for any kind of opposition. Duterte goes ballistic each time he is criticized, especially with regards to possible human rights violations. He explodes into expletives when questioned about the extrajudicial killings, calling even the likes of respectable world leaders US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Kim-moon “son of a b…,” “stupid,” “moron,” “fool,” among many other “colorful” words.
When Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno bewailed the disregard for due process and the rule of law in the killing of drug users and pushers, Duterte threatened to declare martial law if the Supreme Court intervenes.
Duterte has shown his vindictiveness. I thought former President Noynoy Aquino was the most vindictive Philippine president ever when he personally destroyed Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and moved mountains, using people’s money through the illegal Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), to impeach Corona whose only crime is his alleged misdeclaration of his Statement of Assets, Liability and Net Worth (SALN) and, of course, his leading the Supreme Court in handing a decision against the Hacienda Luisita owned by the Cojuangcos and the Aquinos.
But Duterte’s own vendetta against Sen. Leila de Lima, who had investigated the Davao Death Squad when she was chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, for speaking out against the extrajudicial killings and the nation being caught in a “slippery slope to tyranny,” is cruel and brutal.
To her credit, De Lima continues to fight back, although her only weapon, the chairmanship of the Senate committee on justice, has now been taken from her coincidentally after she had produced Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed executioner under the DDS who was delivering a bombshell that could warrant murder charges against Duterte if he were not protected by presidential immunity.
Amid all these, the opposition, or what’s left of it, remains relatively silent. The Liberal Party, which has joined the administration coalition in both houses of Congress, has been accused of plotting to oust the President despite their willingness to cooperate with his administration. Except for a meek rallying behind their beleaguered party mate De Lima, the Liberals are not using their superior number in both the Senate and the House to protect her and to stand for their party.
This administration has either become too paranoid or is up to something. Communications Secretary Martin Andanar last week revealed an alleged plot being hatched by some Filipino-Americans in New York to oust Duterte, although he was quick to admit that it was just mentioned to him by somebody who was in the meeting. In other words, hearsay. Why a high-ranking government official would reveal an unverified information that could cause concern among businessmen and the people is beyond me.
There appears to be coordinated efforts to make the country look unstable. Duterte, for example, said during a speech in a military camp that we should expect another bombing in Mindanao.
Also, Duterte has been visiting military camps in the past few weeks. In each stop, he promises the soldiers higher pay, more benefits and better weapons, as Marcos did decades ago. He also said last week that he plans to revive the Philippine Constabulary, which would make the police part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines again, a move obviously aimed at consolidating his control over both the police and the military.
These moves remind us of what Duterte told Rappler in October last year of his plans for a revolutionary government, as reported by veteran investigative journalist Raissa Robles: “It’s going to be a dictatorship. It’s the police and the military who will be the backbone. If they agree with you – if the right thinking policemen and military men agree with you – then after six years, there will be a new set-up: maybe a federal type, less corruption, and a fresh air for the next generation.”
But this week, Duterte assured the people there will be no martial law. Didn’t Marcos say that, too, when he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, and a few months later, declared martial law?
Last Wednesday, the nation remembered how Marcos declared martial law 44 years ago, and in so many ways, as the people have repeatedly said since the People Power on EDSA ousted the dictator, proclaimed: “Never again.” And yet, most of them watch by as the country slowly slips into tyranny.
(valabelgas@aol.com)