Shock and awe

His template was Davao City so he made a mistake, President Duterte admitted yesterday, in giving himself a six-month deadline to eradicate the drug menace nationwide. Now he admits that his objective is not attainable, under the circumstances, even in six years.

This means the bloody war on drugs will continue for his entire term, carried out with the same ruthlessness.

The other day when informed that 32 drug suspects had been shot dead in separate operations in Bulacan as it celebrated its 439th founding day, the President said, “let’s kill 32 more.”

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, the Manila Police District had not yet killed 32 like the “one time, big time” operation of the Bulacan police. But the MPD was approaching the figure, with 25 drug suspects killed so far all over the city.

As in previous killings, many of the fatalities had registered under Oplan Tokhang, identifying themselves to anti-narcotics cops.

At the current kill rate, it looks like Dirty Rody is on track to eliminating during his presidency a substantial number of the 600,000 drug users and pushers nationwide identified to him by the police.

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Cops waging the war have been promised promotion and absolute pardon in case they are convicted in criminal and human rights cases. So we’re not going to see the kinder, gentler anti-drug operations that Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald dela Rosa had promised when Tokhang was upgraded to Double Barrel.

With the recent mass executions in Bulacan and Manila, it now looks like Double Barrel is merely an expanded version of Tokhang, carried out with the same viciousness.

The neutralization of the Parojinogs, the clan behind the notorious Kuratong Baleleng, was part of Double Barrel. The crackdown on the clan is not over.

In the interest of survival, certain government officials might want to get hold of the President’s long list of suspected narcos. Several Parojinogs, including Ozamiz City Vice Mayor Nova Princess Parojinog Echavez are on that list.

The other day Duterte threatened to kill judges on the list. With this President, a threat to kill must never be construed as hyperbole.

Duterte has identified Pangasinan 1st District Rep. and former Bolinao mayor Jesus “Boying” Celeste as one of two congressmen on the list. Also on the list are judges of the regional and metropolitan trial courts, other mayors, a smattering of police and military generals as well as officers of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and thousands of barangay captains.

The threat against judges cannot be taken lightly. Only last week, one of the judges on the narco list, Godofredo Abul Jr. of Butuan, was executed by men on a motorcycle. His wife was also shot and wounded. Abul had denied drug links.

Duterte, during a visit to Ozamiz yesterday, said he was merely acting within his powers in fighting the drug menace: “I cannot control Congress, I cannot control the courts. Prosecutors, ang dami (so many are) corrupt.”

As for the Bureau of Customs, it was “rotten to the core,” Duterte said, and Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon had been trying to quit. Well, if there’s still some Marine spirit left in Faeldon and he is honestly sick of his post, he can always tender an irrevocable resignation. He won’t get Double Barrel for it.

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Double Barrel is supposed to target the rich and powerful and the large-scale drug traffickers. The Parojinogs seem to fit the bill. And the administration now seems to be sincerely going after Peter Lim the drug dealer who is ranked high in the order of battle of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. The PDEA has publicly confirmed that the Peter Lim on its most wanted list happens to be the same Peter Lim who together with his businessman brother had supported the Duterte presidential campaign in Cebu. It would be a test of Du30’s resolve if his relentless war on drugs would not spare his supporters.

Double Barrel was supposed to shift the focus away from poor, penny-ante pushers under Tokhang to the big time. So why are the Tokhang-related killings back, on an even larger scale?

Maybe Tokhang and Double Barrel are now being conducted simultaneously. We’re waiting for Double Barrel to reach those exclusive nightclubs in Metro Manila where privileged patrons snort cocaine and pop party pills with abandon.

If some of these moneyed patrons and their drug suppliers were included in Double Barrel, will Pinoys care?

We’ve seen how the public has reacted to the gangland-style elimination of the Parojinog / Kuratong ring members. The police chief of Ozamiz (and formerly of Albuera, Leyte), Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido, is now said to be in high demand among certain sectors that want their cities to be rid of gangsters. But because there are still Parojinogs around (plus their supporters), PNP officials have said Espenido would remain in Ozamiz for a while.

The past year has shown people in this democratic, predominantly Catholic nation not just desensitized to but supportive of mass killings of crime suspects. Is this a permanent phenomenon?

If 32 people died in a natural calamity or accident in Bulacan and another 25 in the city of Manila within a day, it would be a national disaster.

We don’t know if the current “shock and awe” killing spree would push to the limit public tolerance for short cuts to law enforcement and crime prevention. Is there even a tolerance threshold? If we can take 32 drug-related killings by cops daily, can we take eight more, for a rounded figure of 40? What about 50, or 70? Seven is a lucky number.

Will Filipinos ever say enough is enough?