According to the count maintained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer as of press time, 2,034 suspected criminals have been killed outside the confines of the judicial system since President Rodrigo Duterte’s inauguration, with 1,076 summarily executed by members of the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the remainder dispatched by civilian vigilantes.
It is easy—but utterly false—to assume an easy split of Filipino opinion: full support of the administration’s efforts or horror at the carnage. Social influencers are quick to push a certain narrative, eager to defend against strawmen arguments and bayaran. The reactions of the reading public paint a callous disregard for life; those killed are either secret conspirators or collateral damage in the war on drugs.
But think of this: Just this December 2016, 94 percent of Filipinos agreed it was important that drug suspects were not killed indiscriminately during drug bust operations and 78 percent feared being or knowing a victim of extra-judicial killing. This is not the narrative we have come to know, lost in the sorrowful coverage of innocent lives lost and the frothing hatred of keyboard warriors and trolls alike.
On the surface, it seems that the issue has been resolved. PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa temporarily suspended the war on drugs on Monday, January 30, following the coverage of the recent murder of Korean businessman Jee Ick-Joo within the confines of the PNP headquarters at Camp Crame. He vowed to find the “few bad ones” among the ranks and remove them from the force. To hear him tell it, one would think that there are a few rogue policemen committing crimes against the people. This, despite the assertion from the President himself that 40 percent of policemen are corrupt, “corrupt to the core.”
Every week seems to brings with it a whirlwind development in our country’s story, one where the various points of view conflict. All these changes make it easy to lose the threads and forget Tuesday’s tragedy in the face of Sunday’s scandal, and this is the most dangerous of all.
With the constancy of death on every form of news media we are exposed to, it is possible to grow almost used to it or to despair and think that nothing can be done. The administration’s continued insistence on a narrative where they are the good guys and the dwindling opposition, the bad, a disheartening enemy, especially in light of the seeming support of thousands of our own fellow citizens. But fight, we must, against not only misinformation, but the unjust laws and structures that make it so easy to yearn for a savior, bloody-knuckled or not.
In an age when the words of the powerful can hold more sway than the facts, when presidential spokespersons attempt to jump through hoops in order to make the President’s words whatever they need to be, it is imperative that we stay vigilant. Our fear of injustice must not remain something whispered anonymously or in our echo chambers. It should bolster our voices and our actions. As each death is reported, as the story of every victim is told, we must keep watch.
