Quick fix addiction

Now that two congressmen have been tagged in the illegal drug trade, what’s President Duterte going to do about it?

Or to put it plainly, are the two also going to be killed?

Will cardboard placards be tossed on their corpses, warning the public that these are drug personalities who must not be emulated? Will their heads be wrapped in plastic and sealed with packing tape?

The questions are on people’s minds mainly because nearly 6,000 people have been killed on suspicion of involvement in drug deals. They were all suspects because at the time of death, no one had been convicted of any offense that might have warranted their killing.

It was Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez who admitted yesterday that Duterte’s narco list of thousands included at least two members of the House of Representatives, with one of them from Mindanao. Alvarez did not give clues about the second one.

How Dirty Rody deals with the two will show whether his brand of swift, brutal justice is inclusive or selective.

If the two congressmen are killed, there will be loud criticism from certain quarters, but overall Dirty Rody need not worry about a widespread public outcry. Heck, he might even see his ratings rise back to the dizzying 90s.

This nation has reverted to the ancient days when people cheered while watching gladiators kill each other or when humans were fed to the lions.

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The criminal justice system is broken. President Duterte is giving the public a taste of alternative justice, and he has said he would let history be his judge.

While those killed so far have been overwhelmingly from poor communities, some well-off personalities have been included, such as Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa. Double Barrel has claimed many barangay officials and a smattering of local councilors. The assassinations of certain local government executives in the countryside are also widely suspected to be linked to the war on drugs. Du30 has succeeded in giving the impression that he can be an equal opportunity tormentor of drug dealers.

People are glad to know that Double Barrel will soon be targeting illegal gambling barons. Several jueteng lords have thrived through several administrations including the previous one of daang sarado, when a strong buzz pointed to a controversial personality close to those in power as the principal operator.

Aside from jueteng, people who continue to support the bloody war on drugs are also waiting for instant justice to be applied to other offenders such as kidnappers and rapists.

Once you start applying the final solution as a quick fix to complex problems, it’s hard to put on the brakes.

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I’ve heard people openly hope that Tokhang and Double Barrel will expand to corruption, to include petty fixers, bureaucrats demanding grease money to cut red tape, and large-scale plunderers whose corruption has made life miserable for millions.

Since Du30 has a known fondness for certain suspected (not yet convicted) plunderers, however, this hope is likely to be disappointed.

But there are people who hope, half-seriously, that Double Barrel will also claim the folks who make life hell for the hoi polloi at city hall business permits offices and fire bureaus, Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Land Transportation Office as well as the crooks who turned the Metro Rail Transit into its current disastrous state.

The exasperated hoi polloi will not condemn the killing of those on the narco list if the President presents a convincing indictment of each suspect. Du30 has said there are an estimated six million drug pushers and addicts in the country and he cannot kill them all. But his Tokhang and Double Barrel forces, assisted by alleged vigilantes, have killed nearly 6,000 suspects so far, and they can surely handle a couple thousand more on his “final” narco list.

With promotions, better assignments and even cash given as rewards to prolific police executioners, there are cops who are enjoying the killing season.

Several notorious drug characters are alive and well, at least while the administration still needs them to destroy Sen. Leila de Lima, or when their siblings keep reminding the administration of their support during the elections. But they may also be neutralized sooner or later as the war goes on relentlessly.

Duterte has been lambasted for his crude mouth and insults hurled at foreign governments and their officials who have criticized his brutal war. But for now it seems the rudeness has worked and Du30’s message has been heard loud and clear: he wants foreign governments to stop treating the Philippines like a colony, and he wants his counterparts to treat him like an equal who must not be dictated upon or criticized – at least not openly.

More importantly, he wants foreign governments not only to keep their noses out of his business but also to support him in his governance, especially in his efforts to eradicate the drug menace.

These days I’m hearing such expressions of support even from governments known to champion human rights. Dirty Rody is winning the war on this front and he is dictating the terms.

With ineffectual resistance, he is turning his throng of supporters into addicts for his brand of quick fix to dysfunctional justice.