This quip, credited to Marshall Reid in 1934 is most fitting to the unlamented ex-president and accused mass murderer Rodrigo Duterte. He is a contemptible person, not only because of his blabbering about the virtue of the 30,000 corpses scored by his gunmen in pursuit of solving the wrong problem of the Filipino people but also for reducing the COVID-19 pandemic to a seasonal affliction that he would kill with his pistol, never mind if he doesn’t have 20:20 vision.
He worsened the narcotic problem, as confirmed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), as Duterte produced more addicts, and the Chinese triad syndicates had their heyday from 2016 to 2022. Duterte and his sidekick Bong Go said banning the entry of Chinese tourists from Wuhan was “nakahihiya” to their Chinese masters. It was like welcoming the virus with a brass band, and thousands of Filipinos died because Duterte and Go didn’t want to lose face if they had any. It turns out they even made good business “battling” COVID-19, with Pharmally getting billions of pesos from Christopher Lao, Bong Go’s underling, for supplying face masks, with Go’s family said to have cornered the supply of face shields from China, the epicenter of the pandemic. Indeed, viral respiratory epidemics are “suki” to China, including the “Spanish flu” pandemic in the early 20th century that originated in Southern China, leaped to Vietnam, and killed millions in Europe and the US.
Duterte’s appearance at the Senate on Oct. 28, 2024 was an unmitigated disaster for the simple reason that the unthinking Duterte admitted having his personal death squad in Davao City, confessed that he launched the war on drugs under the management of Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa and at least four Philippine National Police (PNP) chiefs under his watch. It is a criminal offense to organize a death squad under the law and it is unconscionable for him as a lawyer to transform the PNP into his private murder squad. His “shoot-to-kill” order if the suspects “fight back” is a giveaway to justify his “nanlaban” doctrine but it is illegal, immoral, and reprehensible. Duterte has legitimized the worst operational procedures of the PNP like planting evidence, whether they be ancient, rusting revolvers with the same serial numbers or recycled sachets of shabu.
Those who said that Duterte’s performance at the Senate was “superb” shows that after six years of murder, there are still clowns who believe in the trash that he dishes out. His oratory is as bad as Trump’s “weave,” and he cannot even be correct on his age, erasing six years to make him look young, and squabbling with a senator when pressed if he felt responsible for the deaths of at least 122 minors in his “war on drugs,” including a baby. A furious Duterte tangled with the lawmaker, who reminded him he had taken responsibility for that war but could not admit the fact that his hitmen killed children. It was his duty to protect the people, he pontificated, but was it his duty to kill children? This is bullpucky, as it was Duterte who launched the drug war, established a reward system, for it, and institutionalized contempt for the law by the law enforcers themselves.
Vintage Duterte is back, threatening lawmakers and his enemies if he returns to power but never accepting responsibility for his graft-ridden incumbency, the scams that came as he marched to Malacanang on the heels of a social media campaign that chose the most popular, but least competent, among the aspirants for the Palace. Social media has become the addiction that the Dutertes and the Marcoses fostered in the electorate and this form of media is the reason why gooks, crooks, and murderers get digitally elected. The Associated Press (AP) reported that Duterte showed no remorse for the 30,000 deaths at the Senate as if the Senate were a confessional. To expect him to mourn for the murdered is not to know Duterte.
The fact is, there is a law covering the crimes he has admitted and the Marcos Jr. administration should start investigating and charging him with 30,000 counts of murder. Even before he won the presidency, Duterte planned to turn the waters of Manila Bay red with the blood of criminals. What will Marcos Jr. do with him now that he has admitted he had a death squad? Will he investigate the use of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) for the Duterte reward system when he was Davao City mayor and as president? Duterte’s admissions should prompt Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla to start the ball rolling, review the archived murder cases in Davao City, and coordinate with the prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in rendering justice for Duterte’s victims.
Duterte might be hiding behind the immunity against suits he had enjoyed while he was president but this covers only his official acts. Masterminding murders during the “war on drugs” is certainly not an official act of the executive and immunity is not obtained in this case. The late Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori was convicted for the deaths of his enemies and purported drug lords during his incumbency. He was imprisoned and suffered from a debilitating disease before he was released and allowed to die at home. The Peruvian strongman ended up weak, emaciated, and forlorn. The convicted Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic was also convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for the massacres of Muslims and sent to the haunted prison where he eventually expired, despite enjoying amenities at the castle that became his bed and hearse.
With the Dutertes determined to oust Marcos Jr. and the Marcos faction training its guns on Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and wrecking his so-called church, the unlamented ex-president will have to crawl through broken glass to score some political brownie points. Duterte tagged Marcos Jr. as “weak and lazy” but Rep. Elizaldy Co also slammed his daughter, vice president Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio, as “lakwatsa at waldas” for the illegal disbursements of confidential funds, her frequent absences at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepED) when she headed it. It takes one to know one. Duterte Sr. was known for staying one hour at the Davao City mayor’s office to sign papers after which he went off to parts unknown on his motorcycle along with his security men. The work ethic is just as bad as Marcos Jr.’s. Well, democracy commits suicide every six years and will continue to do so unless you change the system.
