Duterte’s war on drugs: swift or dark justice?

IN June 2018, 38 member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) signed a statement calling on President Rodrigo Duterte to stop the killings in the Philippines and to investigate abuses resulting from his administration’s controversial war on drugs.
Much has been said about President Duterte’s drug war, but despite international condemnation, he appears resolute, “committed to protect the human rights of the most vulnerable citizens.” His supporters insist that the streets are safer, and that swift justice deters crime. Indeed, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has reported a drop in all index crimes (against persons and property) since the President assumed office in July 2016, and since the implementation of “Operation Double Barrel,” a coordinated campaign between the PNP and barangay officials targeting suspected drug addicts and small-time dealers.
To the President’s credit, the drug war has highlighted the severity of the local drug problem and dysfunctions within the Philippine criminal justice system. In 2017, the Commission on Audit reported that 146,302 inmates in prisons nationwide exceeded jail capacity by six times, and cited “the surge in drug-related cases” and “the slow or little action on pending cases” as core issues.
Court cases literally take decades to adjudicate. Meanwhile, the suspects rot in jail. Magistrates remain overworked, underpaid, and some ostensibly on-the-take. Judicial bottlenecks clog the criminal justice system, and partly explain the urge of the police and local officials to be both judge and executioner.
The drug war’s death toll, however, is staggering.
The PNP reported killing 4,251 in official police operations from July 2016 to September 2017. For the same period, the Human Rights Watch recorded the death toll at 13,000, but opposition senators allege this toll has exceeded 20,000. Rappler reports that the President has gone on record on multiple occasions, encouraging law enforcers and Filipinos to harm, and even kill delinquents. Were people killed in legitimate operations or slaughtered by ninja cops in cold blood?
Critics also doubt the effectiveness of the executions, their chilling effect notwithstanding. In Mexico and Colombia, for instance, drug cartels persist despite death tolls surpassing 200,000. And in our very own Davao City, despite two decades of ex-Mayor Duterte’s iron-hand rule, over 9,000 drug addicts surrendered in 2016.
When the dust settles, when President Duterte is gone and the drug lords are back in business, I pray we do not realize that those thousands of souls executed legally or illegally perished in vain. Unless core constraints in the Philippine criminal justice system are identified and systemically addressed, the symptoms will only resurface. Solving the drug problem permanently needs an alignment of strategies of all pillars of the system — the community, law enforcement, prosecution, the judiciary, and corrections — that are mandated to hasten, not clog, the wheels of justice.
For instance, the judiciary, not the law enforcers (police), judges the innocence or guilt of suspects. The community (e.g., schools and churches) deters criminality through value formation.
I pray that President Duterte leverages his political will to systemically win his war on drugs without having to kill or sacrifice due process. I pray he empowers the judiciary to adjudicate cases faster and to reform corrections and other constraints in the justice system.
I pray for a Philippine criminal justice system that:
treats judicial reforms, deterrence, and rehabilitation with more zeal than it punishes victims and encourages police to take short cuts;
dispenses justice swiftly and brings the one million pending court cases down to zero;
punishes the big fish instead of killing suspected addicts;
builds ten times as many courts, hires ten times as many incorruptible judges, prosecutors, and court personnel, and increases their pay; and
builds more humane prisons and rehabilitation facilities, where drug users and criminals can find new purpose and meaning in their lives.
I dream of a Philippines that allows my children to walk safely and fearlessly on our streets. I dream of swift, reformative justice, not just more guns, goons, or cemeteries.
President Duterte, with due respect, please convene the dormant Judiciary Executive Legislative Advisory and Consultative Council and reassess your drug war policy and strategy.
Joseph Pangilinan is CEO of adish International Corp., a business process outsource firm. He is a Professional Lecturer of Strategic Management at the DLSU Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business. He is also the brother of Senator Francis Pangilinan, President of the Liberal Party of the Philippines.
jnpangilinan@gmail.com