Deadline pressure on cops to kill, kill!

WE HAVE long suggested that the six-month deadline of President Rodrigo Duterte for stopping crime and corruption is impossible to meet, and that the Chief Executive should consider extending it. He finally did over the weekend.

We said last July 28 that the deadline should be extended “if only to relieve the pressure to rush into a killing orgy” and that “we are convinced of the President’s good intentions so he does not have to pile up cadavers to prove himself.”

An extension, we added, will give the police, social welfare agencies and other cooperating entities more time to put up rehabilitation facilities for the throngs of drug users who want to turn a new leaf.

In a followup Postscript last Aug. 21, we noted: “President Duterte’s campaign promise to stop crime and corruption in six months must be pressuring the police into killing X-number of suspects by his 50th day in office, his 100th, and so on, in a bloody race to meet the quotas by deadline time.

“The Commander’s shoot-to-kill order has seen many police officers committing their first murder, executing suspects whose guilt has not been established and who in some instances were begging for their lives.

“Some police units that have not killed or arrested enough number of drug suspects to contribute to the quota have been warned.

“Ordering state forces to accomplish that mission impossible dehumanizes uniformed personnel, degrades the presidency, embarrasses Filipinos before the world, and invites censure.

“No wonder, United Nations human rights rapporteurs again called on the Duterte administration this week to stop the ExtraJudicial Killing spree being committed in the name of a cleansing anti-narcotics campaign.

“Foreign observers must think Filipinos are barbarians, and so lecture their President, who ironically is a lawyer, that ‘allegations of drug trafficking offenses should be judged in a court of law, not by gunmen on the streets.’

“President Duterte lashed back at UN officials, questioning their focusing on him while not condemning mass killings in other countries. If the EJKs keep up, even the United States, which has pledged $32 million to the campaign, might just speak up too. (It did days ago. – fdp)

“The UN stressed the public health aspects of addiction. The failure to cope with the hordes of detained drug users is dramatized by the jampacked jails and rehabilitation centers. Some detainees have slid back for lack of proper intervention.

“While neglecting rehab needs, the President has started to make good his promise to the police and the military to double their salaries and to absolve them if they get into trouble carrying out his ‘kill’ order.”

• Duterte asks for additional 6 months

WHAT WE said last July 28 bears repeating: “Right to life being inherent in the human person, those who believe in the sanctity of life are not likely to withdraw their call that suspected drug users be given a chance to be heard before being silenced on the spot by a bullet.

“There are various circumstances that a police officer must sort out in his mind a split-second before pulling the trigger on a suspected drug-user/pusher who is presumed innocent under the law.

“Unfortunately for the officer and his quarry, that decision to kill had been made for him in advance by his superiors acting as God handing down a summary last judgment.”

President Duterte must have realized that one cannot solve problems by shooting the persons involved – and that Davao with its 1.9 million population is vastly differently from a country of more than 100 million.

The other night, the President dropped his campaign promise to end crime, especially the drug menace, in six months. Asking for an extension of six more months, he said he was shocked by the enormity of the problem.

We may have to wait probably three days, because he might change his mind about the additional six months when critical comments start to come in. Or some subordinates might butt in to modify or clarify his announcement or append qualifications to it.

• Cacophony of the frogs in Palace pond

TOO MANY of the President’s men talk out of turn or throw in their respective version of what the boss said or meant.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said it was possible that Indonesia would free convicted Filipino drug mule Mary Jane Veloso if Philippine courts could establish that she was a victim of the syndicates that recruited her.

Of course Veloso is a victim, as everybody else is somehow a victim, but whatever she is, Aguirre should just keep quiet instead of letting his imagination run wild. It is risky raising expectations. Quiet na lang po tayo while awaiting Jakarta’s decision.

Malacanang has announced, meanwhile, two key diplomatic appointments: those of Marciano Paynor Jr. as ambassador to the United States, and Teddy Locsin Jr. as Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Both are eminently qualified.

But when Communications Secretary Martin Andanar announced that Locsin was appointed “Ambassador to the UN” instead of saying he was to be the “Permanent Representative,” we wondered if the overworked secretary knew what was going on.

We wondered also if the appointment of Paynor was covered by an agrément from Washington before Manila announced it. This might be a minor detail to the uninitiated, but an agrément is the formal acceptance of another country’s diplomatic representative.

Before a state announces a new chief of mission to another state, it must be first ascertained that the nominee is acceptable to the receiving state. It is unusual for an agrément to be refused, but it sometimes happens. So it is best to wait and avoid embarrassment.

Note the adjective “permanent” in Locsin’s designation. He will be the resident representative in New York, not one of those junketing officials from Manila who try for an ego boost by dropping in and reading a Philippine statement before the world assembly.

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