Since President Rodrigo Dutert's grip on power in 2016, he has carried out the “large-scale murdering enterprise” step by step, according to a new Amnesty report. (Hannah, 2019).
With Duterte's aggressive determination to wipe out drug abuse in the Philippines by giving police unprecedented power, it is up to 27,000 people that have died in the fight against drugs, the country's Commission on Human Rights (CHR) estimated in December 2018. Not to mention that the number of casualties has grown higher and higher until now. Although this painful outcome might not come from Duterte's intention, as the president's spokesman, Salvador Panelo, told BBC News, ( I mean we shouldn't suppose he has already known that there would be a bunch of innocent people and children that would die from his hard-line campaign but still insists on the killing just to eliminate all drug users, right?), putting numerous innocent people to death for no reason is the FACT.
(Photograph: The Guardian)
The following has been simply analyzed the effects that have caused during this campaign.
Firstly, the campaign, in general, does more harm than good. In the long-term, it might prevent petty crimes from drug abuse or instill fear among "illegal drug personalities". Also, it might make some think twice about dealing with drugs or prevent it from becoming a much bigger problem. For example, Mexico. In response to those casualties of innocent people, "the police say they kill only in self-defense - for example, during drug-bust operations.", according to a piece of news covered by the BBC in 2019. There's even a piece of news covered by the Philippine News Agency in 2019 that 79 percent of Pinoys are satisfied with President Duterte’s crackdown on illegal drugs.
Nevertheless, Ronald dela Rosa, a Philippine senator, says "shit happens" when he heard the killing of a three-year-old girl in a police drug operation (Hannah, 2019). In my way of thinking, it is barely possible that Filipinos would be satisfied with the drug war after they heard this inhumane expression. Yes, shit always happens but he doesn't sound like having a little regret for this innocent girl, to be honest. This anti-drugs campaign has caused the preliminary investigations into Duterte carried out by the international criminal court (ICC) to determine whether his drug war may constitute crimes against humanity.
it is also like stimulating a long unopened can of worms that destroys the evil balance lasting for long in the Philippines, but the real intention is obscure. There is a theory raised in 2018 that the drug war is ridiculously abnormal because the authorities have kept operating useless tactics. "The supply keeps coming and doesn’t look like the war is preventing it. Funnily, most war tactics tend to cut off the supply lines of the enemy, why does this current drug war rarely exhibit that effort?", a netizen raised on Quora. He puts his points forward that "the war on drugs was just used as a platform to propel the ruling party to hold power in the country". People might not be sure if the government intends to extend its grip on power to the limit.
Moreover, the authorities have been "getting away with murder" (Al Jazeera., 2019), especially the police. "Despite international criticism and threats of prosecution in the international criminal court, the top leadership still has its marching orders to use killing as the centerpiece, and just letting the police and other law enforcement agencies get away with murder", Amnesty told Al Jazeera. There are Extrajudicial killings done by police officers who commit this usually escape arrest, and those illegal killings have made the problems of drugs more complex in the Philippines.
In a nutshell, President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has been out of control (Muggah, 2017), and the government's power has also unprecedentedly extended. Although drug issues may ease a bit, people who passed away won't come back. We deeply feel sorry for the loss of the Philippines and hope that the Philippines will recover from the great pain.
(Photograph: The Guardian)
