‘Drug war: Mass killings disguised as crime control’

MANILA, Philippines - President Duterte’s recent pronouncement that he would be glad to kill millions of drug addicts just like Hitler killed millions of Jews has continued to draw ire from various sectors, saying it goes against the principle of due process.

Human rights defenders expressed dismay yesterday over President Duterte saying if Germany’s Hitler massacred three million Jews, he would be glad to kill three million drug addicts to “save the next generation from perdition.”

“The lesson of the first three months of Duterte’s presidency is that we should not underestimate the impact of his statements on police and others with firearms to lawlessly slaughter their fellow Filipinos without fear of arrest,” Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phelim Kine said on Friday.

According to Kine, the killings of drug addicts are nothing less than mass killings disguised as “crime control.”

“Duterte has been consistent in pronouncing that his ‘war on drugs’ will continue, that the police have effective license to kill criminal suspects and that his administration will turn a blind eye to the shooting of alleged drug users and dealers,” he said.               

The group also called on foreign donors – such as the United States and the European Union, which give technical and financial assistance to the Philippine security forces – to warn the Duterte government of the risk of losing such aid because of the unabated killings related to its war on drugs.

“More broadly, they should be clear that if Duterte’s assault on some of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens continues, their long-standing close relationship with the Philippines will be at risk,” Kine said.             

Meanwhile, militant labor group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said in a statement: “We do not subscribe to the President’s referencing of Hitler in relation to the war on drugs and the killings of so-called drug addicts. Killing by state forces of unarmed civilians, even if they are suspected criminals, goes against the principle of due process.”

“It is also important that the President realize that the drug menace will not be solved simply by killing the three million addicts whom the President believes threaten the survival of the next generation,” the group added. 

“The drug problem is not a mere police problem. The socio-economic roots of the proliferation of illegal drugs should be addressed along with the need for a comprehensive rehabilitation program. The police force, itself tainted with corruption and links to drug syndicates, cannot be given carte blanche in dealing with the scourge of illegal drugs.”

Opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman said yesterday Duterte’s likening his unabated war on drugs to the Holocaust was itself evidence of the President’s guilt in the mass killing of more than 3,000 drug suspects.

“There is no need for proof on Duterte’s culpability because his public admission of Hitler-like killings is clear evidence against him,” Lagman said.  

“His having compared himself to Hitler, who caused the slaughter of six million Jews during World War II, is a virtual confession that the extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug dealers and addicts since the start of his term almost 100 days ago have been instigated, encouraged and condoned by him.”

According to Lagman, Duterte has justified elimination of suspected criminals without due process, parallel to Hitler’s extermination of the Holocaust victims.

“The parallelism denotes commonality of commission of mass murder, even as it demeans the sacrifices of the Jews who were a persecuted people,” he said. – With Jess Diaz, Evelyn Macairan