[EDITORIAL] ‘Tapang at Malasakit’: 2,190 days under an iron fist

In the previous inauguration of the new head office building of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) last May 23, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte expressed his utmost apology for the shortcomings of his administration, and that whatever he has achieved during his term as the president was “already his best effort.” He also stressed that whatever programs that he had laid out during his campaign that were not pushed through, it was because of the “lack of time’” and cannot be hailed for negligence.

“Six years would not be enough to finish all the projects,” he said.

Despite a load of rallies that had been staged during his reign, there were still notable achievements that Duterte’s office had dished out. Among these were the expressways, airports, seaports, bridges, and the like that were done under his “Build, Build, Build” program. Others were the tax incentives for enterprises, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the Modernization Act, Sin Tax, Tax Amnesty, the expanded 105-day Maternity Leave Law, as well as the passage of the Mental Health Law, One-Stop Service Center for the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), Overseas Filipino Bank (OF Bank), OFW Hospital, OFW e-card, salary increase for the police and soldiers, as well the government workers’ pay hike.

Aside from the aforementioned achievements, Duterte’s list of achievements also covered the 10-year validity of passport and 5-year validity for driver’s license, which adds up to the comfort of the consumers and motorists as they no longer need to stress themselves in the immediate renewal of such.

During his campaign, it was clear that the country will face a macho-feudal system, seemingly tired of the then administration who have battled against the societal issues in such a loving manner. Duterte wanted to debunk this image and to use his iron hand in combating whatever needs to be eradicated. His goals were centered on economic and infrastructural development—/peace, justice, security, human development, and foreign policies. Nevertheless, all of these laws and mandates were made and signed for the betterment of the Filipinos.

But to cancel out the horror in the dark age of his War on Drugs equates to disrespect and never-ending grief and limbo for the families of those who have never seen their child or parents come home after a long day of work or school. We can never deny the circling agony that was left to them when they have read the news about their loved one, left with nothing but a placard that says, “Pusher ako, wag gayahin,” even with no trace of being associated in the deadly world of psychedelics.

Recently, one of the country’s forensic pathologists, Dr. Raquel Fortun, autopsied several drug war victims who have died from June 15, 2016–30 days before Duterte laid out his iron fists into office–to August 13, 2017.

As of the last quarter of 2021, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reported 6,225 eradicated drug suspects, having the youngest victim of 17 years old, and the oldest was 55. However, some human rights groups say that the real number of the victims may be from 12,000 to 30,000.

Dr. Fortun autopsied seven of the 46 victims who were claimed to have died under “natural causes”, particularly sepsis, heart attack, pneumonia, hypertension, or stroke. However, the forensic pathologist found out that one of the victims who was declared to have died from a heart attack, actually died of multiple gunshot wounds, proving that some, if not all, death certificates of the drug war victims were falsified. Another irregularity that was reported by Fortun was that the cause of death was either blank, incomplete, unknown, or handwritten instead of being declared digitally.

Strengthening the issue, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) had also looked into the killings during the drug war from 2016 to February 2020, and found that dozens of victims were either shot in the head, chest, or abdomen, suggesting a notion of “an intent to kill”.

As Duterte’s days in office are numbered, it leaves the people to wonder what will happen to this War on Drugs. Will it be continued? Will the president-elect look into debunking the violence?

In his speech yesterday at the Melchora Aquino vessel, the outgoing president has expressed his intent to still continue the program, even after his term, but this leaves the people to still further ponder–what will become of the victims’ families?

Further into Fortun’s report, most of the teeth samples of the victims were in an awful state, seeing that they have possibly not seen a dentist in their entire life–telling us that the targets of the program are the poorest of the poor.

Sure, without taking sides, there are really a number of people who use these psychedelics either for fun, momentary bliss, and some as their means of income. But the number of the victims who were not proven to be a user or pusher says otherwise. Do we really need to eradicate their existence and not help them to be rehabilitated and have another chance in life? This leaves us to further think: what will happen to the succeeding “victims” in this course after his term?