“Thankfully, God demonstrates His love for us in not condemning us.”—Romans 5:8
If we did not create a blood-thirsty society that glorifies violence, the death penalty debate wouldn’t have been lengthy. As it is, rather than addressing the root-causes of the drug problem of our country, popular opinion has opted for a quick solution—kill them all.
Taking a life of another has been a justified act since society was in its early stages—as a form of proactive defense, in an “either you die or I die” scenario. The Philippines used to have the death penalty for capital crimes such as murder, rape and treason. After martial law, it was prohibited, but later reinstated during the time of President Fidel V. Ramos, and then banned again during the Arroyo administration.
None of the administrations that supported capital punishment was able to solve crime rate problems. None of the administrations was able to provide for real structural changes that gave the people economic options.
But what about the rich drug lords? Are they what we can term desperate to put food on their table? No, but they are preying on the desperate. They are using the poor as mules, petty dealers, promising them relief from their daily income problems. Well, maybe the poor do not need to worry about the death penalty, after all, with or without it, they are already subject to extrajudicial killings.
Kill.
This has been the solution of the Duterte administration to all problems. Instead of rebuking the evil structures that promote misdeeds, instead of going to the root causes of all the conflicts and crimes in the country—by assuring fair and stable income, institutionalizing a functioning justice system, reforming drug users, among several other actions that legislators could have focused on—it has chosen to react violently.
And the warlords in Congress are happy. Instead of getting their backyards cleaned up of blood, they are further given the license to kill—yes, with impunity. And society is glorifying them.
AILENE VILLAROSA, advocacy officer, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines-Northern Mindanao Sub-Region (RMP-NMR) Inc., advocacies@rmp-nmr.org