Just say no

What if cops were ordered by their superiors to kill, and they disobeyed the order?

It may sound incredible, but in the Philippine National Police (PNP), disobeying such an order, especially under the current circumstances, is easier said than done.

Cops are only human, and believe it or not, they can be bothered by their conscience. What can be more disturbing to someone with a conscience than taking someone else’s life? In recent months I’ve heard of PNP members turning to their confessors or other spiritual advisers, unburdening themselves.

Their stories bear a common thread, which the Senate might want to look into. The war on illegal drugs is the priority in law enforcement. And how do you measure performance in waging this war? By the volume of prohibited drugs confiscated, raids conducted and arrests made. In the time of Dirty Rody, however, another element has been added: the number of drug personalities “neutralized,” in fulfillment of President Duterte’s campaign promise to kill, kill, kill.

Because the number of drug suspects killed has become a gauge of performance not only of individual PNP members but also of police commands, stations and units, it’s not hard to believe the lament of certain cops that their superiors set a kill quota in the drug war.

Those who fail to meet the quota are reportedly relieved, reassigned to hardship posts or passed over for promotion. The opposite awaits the top killers.

There are cops who can live with being put in the career freezer for refusing to kill. But their resolve can crumble if they themselves are threatened with execution for refusing to participate in the orgy of murder. Either a cop is with the killers or he’s against them. Those whose hands are drenched in blood think colleagues who refuse to be tainted are holier-than-thou and, worse, a potential rat. So complying with the kill quota can be a matter of survival even for cops with a conscience.

It looks like the drug problem in the country has not been exaggerated, so anti-narcotics cops shouldn’t run out of targets for neutralization. But if you are given a schedule for meeting a kill quota, vetting of targets can be sloppy and grievous mistakes are possible.

* * *

The PNP leadership will likely dismiss the quota story as nonsense. But Kian Loyd delos Santos looks like a victim of the quota system. He was killed in the same week that police killed 32 drug suspects in less than two days in Bulacan, coinciding with the founding day of the province, followed by 25 in just one day in the city of Manila.

Bulacan has seen one of the highest rates of drug-related killings since last year. Since the furor over Kian’s murder erupted, however, the death toll in the province has been an amazing zero. Have all the drug personalities been neutralized?

Senators should find out why 32 drug suspects were killed in Bulacan from the night of Aug. 14 until the next evening, followed by the 25 in Manila. Was the police zeal fueled by the generally positive public reaction to the neutralization of the Parojinogs in Ozamiz?

Police should realize that even people who support an iron-fist approach to fighting crime do discriminate between eliminating notorious lowlifes and executing the innocent and those who deserve a second chance.

Few people dispute the damage that drugs inflict on society – their capability to induce psychotic, violent criminal behavior; their corrupting influence on public officials. Filipinos understand the threat posed by narco politics, and how gangsters powered by drug money can undermine democracy. People even understand that drug dealers don’t play nice and this war tends to be ugly.

If the anti-narcotics shock troops of the Duterte administration can focus on neutralizing large-scale drug dealers as well as government officials engaged in drugs, Pinoys frustrated with the justice system will even cheer on the PNP. There are people who are even hoping that the President would be as ruthless on the notoriously corrupt – although this could shut down Congress and paralyze the government.

Dirty Rody need not worry: the Pinoy bloodlust is still there, thanks to the failed justice system. But people have given police a license to fight criminals, not to indulge their inner homicidal maniac and become themselves the greatest menace to public safety.

* * *

PNP members worried about their humanity and are bothered by their conscience or are at least worried about criminal indictments after five years, may want to consider that there is strength in unity. They can band together in opposing unlawful orders.

They can document such orders or threats made by colleagues or superiors, as insurance against harassment or worse.

We can’t ask cops to put their lives on the line by refusing to participate in mass executions. But we can remind them that if they do the right thing, today’s PNP pariahs could be tomorrow’s heroes.

Cleansing of an organization works best when it starts from within.

People are often advised to say no to drugs. It should be possible for cops to say no to summary execution.

The public support might surprise them.