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MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, June 2, repeated his marching order to newly installed police chief General Nicolas Torre III regarding his campaign against drugs: go back to hunting small-time drug peddlers – a return to Duterte-style tactics and a backtrack on his posturing to the international community.
“Patuloy din kayong magmatiyag sa ating mga komunidad para kahit ang small time na mga drug dealers ay wala ring ligtas (Continue to be vigilant in our communities so even small time drug dealers won’t be spared),” Marcos said in his speech directed to Torre at the Philippine National Police (PNP) change of command ceremony.
Marcos first announced this on May 19 in a podcast he launched just after a disastrous outcome of his Senate slate in the midterm elections – one which saw three Duterte allies finish at the top (Bong Go, Ronald Dela Rosa and Rodante Marcoleta) and two supporters make it to the Magic 12 (Imee Marcos and Camille Villar.)
“In the same vein, part of the lesson of these elections, let’s go back to yung sa grassroots level, kung inaalala ng tao ang sinasabi nagbalikan dito, asikasuhin natin. Tuloy natin ang malalaking drug bust, ikukulong natin ang sangkot sa drugs. Ngayon mag focus tayo ulit sa small time,” Marcos said.
(In the same vein, pert of the lesson of these elections, let’s go back to the grassroots level, if people are worried and they are saying that addicts are back, let’s pay attention. Let’s continue big drug buy busts, we’ll still send them to jail, but now we focus again on the small time.)
Against the backdrop of a decrease in his popularity ratings and the landslide victory of his nemesis Rodrigo Duterte as mayor of Davao City, Marcos said: “I want to be respected, but maybe fear is better.”
Huge backtrack
The pronouncement is a major backtrack on his government’s earlier commitments to civil society – and by and large, the international community – that it will support the pivot to a harm reduction principle.
Under this principle, drug use is seen as a complex health and social issue that needs more thoughtful response than just law enforcement. This was the final recommendation of civil society partners at the end of the three-year United Nations Joint Programme on Human Rights or the UNJP, which received a total of US$4 million or P223 million in total funding from foreign partners.
The Marcos government piggybacked on this to convince the international community that the country was compliant to its human rights obligations – part of a campaign to secure a seat in the United Nations Security Council.
“Saddened but not necessarily disappointed. Iniisip ko kasi na expected naman itong shift na ito dahil malalim at systemic ang issue. Pero umaasa pa rin ako na mabago,” said lawyer Ays Baguilat, head legal officer of the University of the Philippines (UP) Institute of Human Rights, which submitted the outcome report of the project. (I think this shift is expected because the issue is deep and systemic. I’m still hoping it can change.)
One of the explicit recommendations there last year was for “drug use and low-level offenses, such as possession for personal use and the selling of small amounts of drugs, be decriminalized.” There are many campaigns nationwide to break the stigma on drug use, drawing from grassroots experience of public health practitioners and human rights lawyers who have seen disproportionate punishments on drug users.
Just last March, the same groups consisting of some representatives from government agencies, reached a consensus once again to “explore the decriminalization of drug use” particularly “small-time drug users,” based on a joint statement provided to Rappler.
The Duterte fear factor
Baguilat told Rappler he was “not really shocked” by Marcos’ new pronouncements, given the resurgence in public discussions that tend to blame drugs for crimes or accidents that are reported.
“The effort to create an atmosphere of worsening law and order will really scare any politician. This is linked to problems in social media and traditional media,” said Baguilat.
“However, it does not alter our firm belief that the concern cannot be addressed through a single-minded law enforcement policy. We maintain our call for evidence-based policy making and nuanced distinctions and responses between persons who use drugs, sellers, and traffickers,” he added.
At the much-hyped drug policy reform summit last year, Marcos’ dangerous drugs board chief even committed to have the anti-drugs law amended, which has been criticized of enabling the abuses and killings in Duterte’s war on drugs.
Marcos maintains, as Torre does, that their campaign will not be abusive. Duterte’s Oplan TokHang was characterized by all-encompassing police powers to visit homes, interrogate suspects, and supposedly facilitate the “surrender” to rehabilitation. The constitutionality of this campaign is still a pending case in the Supreme Court, now eclipsed by Duterte’s arrest and detention in the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged planned kills in exchange of rewards for police.
In his speech, Torre told the cops: “File affidavits, execute warrants, bring criminals to justice, raise your hands in front of judges and fiscals, and provide evidence against these criminals to support their conviction, and you will be recognized and rewarded. Of course, I have to reiterate that all of these actions must be done within the ambit of the law, evidence-based and rights respecting.”
Baguilat said the Marcos government has been consistent in recognizing the previous human rights violations, and “were open to discussions” on how the problems can be addressed, “but whether they will commit to it is another question.”
As of May 23, there have been a total of 983 drug-related killings in the three years that Marcos had been president, according to the Dahas Project of the UP Third World Studies Center.
Baguilat said the dialogues and partnerships of civil society and the Philippine government continue, even after the UNJP. – Rappler.com
