Ethics: Is the Philippine Drug War worth supporting?–Perspective of a 17-year-old Filipina

Disclaimer: Reader discretion is advised

The Philippine Drug War refers to the drug policy of the Philippine Government. under President Rodrigo Duterte, who assumed office on June 30, 2016. The policy is aimed at the neutralization of illegal drug personalities nationwide. Duterte . has urged members of the public to kill suspected criminals and drug addicts.

The community that surrounded me was staunch supporters of the man. He is straightforward, authentic, a man of the masses who came from poverty. I was content at first, to see. the numbers of drug personalities arrested rising with every news update. Then the killings started. Innocents caught in the crossfire, 17-year-olds walking around the neighborhood in the midst of an anti-drug operation.  Man turning on fellow man, painting the streets red with blood, no due process required to prosecute the alleged crime. Gradually, I found myself questioning why this was happening and no one was saying anything about it. Not even when the International Crime Court opened a preliminary examination into the extrajudicial killings. Not even when Duterte announced that the Philippines would withdraw from the ICC in response to that.

Each human life has value, regardless of what they had done.

In the span of two years, a few shootings occurred outside my house, the shots still resonating in my head. I am conflicted, however,  because of my hometown which was once considered the drug capital of the Eastern Visayas region, became the first drug-free city in the region. Cartels that worked in tandem with corrupt government officials were swept out of the picture, and new management came in to clean the mess. Crime rates went down and by the first quarter of 2018, Ormoc was named the safest city in the Philippines.

Even then, I know that what happened to my hometown cannot be said of the same for everywhere else in the country. Shoot first, think later is only a short-term solution to a long-term problem. After reading Randy Ribay’s ‘Patron Saints of Nothing’, I realized that you need to balance both the subjective opinions of Filipino sentiment and objective external perspectives to make informed decisions. May the stories of those who lost their lives be shared, so they would not become statistics who died in vain. With all the love and respect I have for my country, let us find more proactive solutions to achieve our goals.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Drug_War

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/philippines

https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/the-philippine-star/20171118/281762744551760