Mariano Carrasco
DUTERTE’S program to curb criminality and drug addiction is undoubtedly good. But it should not be done extrajudicially. Once the execution of so-called criminals is done without the benefit of a judicial process, we step into the unknown darkness of who decides who and when to execute, we close the door to the principles of rehabilitative justice, and at certain times, the innocents or bystanders could become victims. We become anarchic, a society governed not by the rules or by reason, but by force and by deadly and arbitrary power.
It could overflow and even threaten those engaged in peaceful protest actions. When policemen and military authorities become habituated to killing those they perceived to be drug lords or criminals, they become calloused and could do just about anything to those they don’t like, and even political dissenters and moneyed individuals with so much money could become victims soon.
And Duterte needs to do more, that is, he needs to address the roots of the problem. Criminality, drug addiction, excessive gambling, and other vices are generally caused by lack of education, landlessness, homelessness, unemployment and government neglect. In fact, the grabbing of private and public lands by the wealthy few who conspire with government officials is one of the root causes of poverty and landlessness. An educated, well-employed, productive and contented citizenry living in decent homes and communities, would generally produce a peaceful and happy society and a people less inclined to engage in vicious acts or commit crimes.
We can cut the branches of trees, but new leaves or branches would grow after a while if the roots remain. We can kill criminals now, but new criminals will reappear. After all, these criminally inclined individuals, living hopeless and miserable lives, would not be afraid of committing crimes and being shot dead in the process. In fact, death to them becomes an escape from their miseries.
Thus the news lately that four suspected criminals or drug pushers were shot dead in Davao City after the elections, and many more were shot dead after that, indicates indeed that criminality and drugs have not been eliminated yet in Davao City, despite glorious pronouncements to the contrary.
We can repaint a car or change the driver or we can call that new car new names, but if the engine is rusty and dilapidated, still it won’t go far. The driver may be a good one, perhaps a visionary, yet, if he drives a country with a defective “engine,” it won’t go far. The “engine,” Virginia, is the system, the roots.
Consider this: If we can theoretically divide all the lands and give everyone an equal share or piece of land, that would be equality or equal sharing of lands. That would be land reform to the maximum. Nobody is landless from the beginning. Nobody owns a hacienda. However, as the years roll by, some of the landowners would be unable to cultivate their lands because they are either incompetent, lazy, of physically weaker or less clever than the others. In due time, some of them would be forced to mortgage or sell the lands to the better, hardworking, physically able, and clever landowners, especially when they need to be hospitalized or need to pay the tuition fees for their children in a social or economic system that does not provide for universal health care and free education. In a society founded on the philosophy that the “strong” survives and the “weak” shall perish, soon most of the lands would be acquired by a few families while the majority become landless, and homeless too. That, Virginia, is the system, the roots, the “engine” we are referring to. In a society where government provides for free medical care and free education and has other social or socialist controls, the tendency for land or wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few is remote and more or less there is contentment among the general population. We would have less drug users and pushers, and less criminality. Yes, Virginia, Duterte needs to do more than just excessively and unjustly lambasting the church and executing criminals and drug syndicates.
(Mariano B. Carrasco is a lawyer based in Cagayan de Oro.)
