Batas Mauricio
THE Senate inquiry on what is now known as “extra-judicial killings” strengthened, rather than weakened, the campaign against illegal drugs that is being waged quite ferociously by President Duterte and his government since its installation on June 30, 2016.
Among many other things, the inquiry showed that the illegal drugs menace in the Philippines poses a big, big threat not only to individual Filipinos but to the whole nation as well, thereby making it a national calamity that must be addressed, violently if need be, if we want to stop the slide of the country towards a system where we are ruled by drug cartels, drug lords, and drug syndicates.
Yes, there will be missteps and abuses, particularly by rouge policemen or other law enforcement authorities who would be exploiting, as some of them have indeed already exploited, Duterte’s marching orders against drug addicts and drug lords, but, indeed, we are now facing a war where our country’s survival is at stake, a war which is vicious, and violent, and deadly, and which was brought and foisted upon us by those who have been profiting from the illegal drugs trade for some time now.
Be that as it may, I reiterate my submission: in the campaign against drugs, crime, and corruption, it would be a criminal mistake if the Duterte government will solely be using the might, force, and the awesome powers, of the State, to crush those who have been engaged in drug pushing.
True, no criminal syndicate can ever match the firepower of the government’s armed forces, and no one can question the right of those in power to use all force that would be necessary to eliminate or stop the scourge of drug addition and drug peddling among our countrymen.
But I am sure that for every drug addict or drug lord who maybe killed while Duterte is in power, other persons would simply take their places as time goes by, and would become the new addict or the new drug lord. The frightening scenario here is the “mutation” of these new addicts or new drug lords into fiercer, greedier, and more determined drug personalities, particularly when Duterte is no longer around, perhaps in 2022, or, God forbid, sooner than is expected.
I reiterate: side by side with the ongoing violent and unforgiving police and military campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, there must be a parallel campaign to change the minds and hearts of Filipinos, from being supportive of drug abuse or drug use, for whatever reason, to being abhorrent of all forms of illegal acts and practices.
This can only be done by bringing our people back to the basics of good manners and right conduct, of loving and fearing God above all else, with all their heart, with all their souls and all their might, and of treating other persons as they would want themselves to be treated, or talked to, or considered.
How do we do this? We can start by imitating what the Supreme Court has done in all the courts nationwide-equire people who have anything to do with the dispensation of justice to pray to a God who is “the supreme Judge.” Duterte can order all the offices in the executive department to gather its officials and employees every morning, before any transaction is to be carried out, to also pray. The prayer of a righteous man, after all, is powerful and effective!
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Pardon me for saying this, but I am certainly glad that the Filipino people are now being given the privilege of being told that their top officials, who once pontificated on righteousness as they enjoyed the vast powers of government, were in reality committing acts that not only betrayed the trust and confidence that had been reposed on them by virtue of their lofty positions, but also destroyed the minds and the spirit of many beyond redemption with illegal drugs and criminality.
If Duterte did not become our Chief Executive, we would not have known that police generals were in cahoots with drug lords which operated drug syndicates across the country; that governors, mayors, and other local officials were actually serving as tentacles of drug rings because they were responsible for the distribution of drugs and proliferation of crimes in their localities.
And most important of all, we would not have known, if Duterte did not ascend to power, that the very guardians of justice at the highest levels of government under the term of President Benigno Aquino III could be behind the dastardly operation of laboratories inside the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City that mass produced shabu during the Aquino administration, with the apparent cooperation or participation of prison officials.
And so I say to President Duterte, this shaming and unmasking of government officials as shabu protectors and even as crime lords, must continue. The President must at this point even look into the involvement of officials higher than those being accused by him on drugs, for it is widely known that nothing moves in this country without the permission, tacit or express, of the highest officials of government.
Any right thinking Filipino certainly knows that a mere alter ego of another official will not dare to act or decide, or to even receive bribe money especially from sources as polluted as drug lords or criminal syndicate operators, if the higher official did not at the very least know what was taking place, or how much was exchanging hands.
It cannot be denied, as some had already derisively suggested, that the government is actually the greatest syndicate of all, controlled by only one person who sits at the top of the administrative totem pole. Consequently, the fight against crime and criminality and gross corruption, if it is to have any effect at all, must look into what the top official did, or did not do, during his term.
For too long a time, Filipinos talked about the involvement of high government officials in crime and criminality, including corruption, only in bated breath and in whispered tones. Even when there is a clear evidence of the officials’ involvement in wrongdoing, no one would dare come out in the open, for fear of reprisal and vindictive attacks.
This has given rise to boldness and audacity in the commission of graft and corruption in its many forms. Since no official gets punished for stealing government money, or allowing shabu laboratories to operate with impunity or criminals to commit even the most despicable of crimes, many are encouraged to go on with their nefarious activities as government officials.
One way of stopping this is exposing them and, if the evidence warrants, prosecuting the guilty ones via a litigious and cumbersome court trial. Another way could be the mounting of a campaign to re-introduce spirituality among Filipinos, to lead them back to righteous living with full commitment to love God and their fellow Filipinos, but no one in the Duterte government seems interested in doing this! I hope I am wrong in this.
E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo. com
