The Philippines’ “Drug War” Problem Persists
This past Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution to provide “Technical assistance and capacity-building” towards improving human rights in the Philippines amidst the country’s controversial “War on Drugs”. However, there is concern from activist groups that such a resolution undercuts investigative efforts into the Philippines’ government reporting of extra judicial killings that have occurred under President Rodrigo Duterte.
Since Duterte took office in June 2016, the Philippines have a taken a hardened anti-drug approach to extinguish widespread usage and trade of illegal drugs. According to the UN’s June report, The “War on Drugs” has produced the “Double Barrel” project, which incorporates police visitations in barangays, small governmental housing units, with the intent to “persuade suspects to stop illegal drug activities”. As a result of these operations, 8663 people have killed trough extrajudicial means according to government data “with other estimates of up to triple that number”.
Police reporting and procedures make matters harder to fandom when“42,286 police anti-illegal drugs operations conducted in the period between 1 July 2016 and 30 November 2017, only 507 –1.2 per cent –were based on an arrest warrant”. Furthermore, despite all these deaths and inappropriate police protocol, there has only been a single arrest. The single conviction came back in August 2017 due to the unlawful killing by three officers of 17 year old Kian De Los Santos. All three officers were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2018.
Nevertheless, thousands of deaths are still unaccounted for by the police, and human rights groups hoped that there would be a more rigorous international investigation by the UN into police reports. Instead, with collaboration from the UN, the Filipino government put forward “the creation of a review panel that would re-evaluate cases where deaths occurred during operations under the anti-illegal drugs campaign.” Additionally, the resolution entails also provides“human rights assessment, advisory services on institution building and legislation work, workshops, and other best practices sharing”. While this new resolution heads in the rights direction, sentiment is that “The human rights situation in the Philippines warrants more than just ‘technical assistance’ from the UN. A full international investigation to effectively address the pervasive impunity in the country is urgently needed,” said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Philippines Researcher at Amnesty International.
Still, Duterte has been adamant and direct in his defense of the drug polices that he has introduced. He has gone as far as to criticize human rights groups that have scrutinized him for allegedly disregarding human rights. He states that “These detractors pass themselves off as human rights advocates, while preying on the most vulnerable humans, even using children as soldiers or human shields in encounters”. What can be considered even more surprising is the high level of public support that Duterte has received for his performance as president. The fourth quarter of 2019 saw a net plus 72 of satisfaction by the public, an increase from his approval of plus 68 in the second quarter of 2019. Furthering this thought is the fact that 82 percent of those polled by Social Weather Stations are satisfied with his drug policies. In spite of this support, not much has actually been done to tackle the supply of drugs, for Vice President Leni Robredo has stated that“about 1 percent of the estimated supply of methamphetamine, a powerful banned stimulant known locally as “shabu”, has been seized in the last three years”.
Regardless, there is no clear indication that Duterte’s government plans to slow down the flow and intensity of drug investigations, as just last July, Duterte’s introduction and defense of a new anti-terrorism bill suggests enhanced measures of police activity. Under the new law, individuals and groups can be detained without warrant if designated as terrorists. The bill allows permits “surveillance and wiretaps, and punishments that include life imprisonment without parole”. While not directly under drug legislation, one could infer that these measures could facilitate and worsen the conditions of drug operations.
As it stands, the Philippines has to critically evaluate and reconfigure its “War on Drugs” if it wishes to end further deaths and eliminate the core of its drug issue. It remains to be seen if the new implementations from the UN will be followed, and a close eye will be put on the Duterte administration in the upcoming months to see if there is improvement. Should changes occur, one would hope they come in a dignified and helpful manner.
