Blame your President

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo had a chance to do from the very start of her term what she’s now asking of the media and prominent commentators. She could have asked President Duterte to put a stop to the “war on drugs” or, barring that, to stop boasting about it and escalating his rhetoric, such as saying that addicts are “not human.”

As a member of the Duterte Cabinet, she could have spoken up about how the nightly killings and the atmosphere of fear these were creating were wreaking havoc on her department’s campaign to attract tourists.

But she kept quiet and held her counsel, falling in with the party line that the brutal war on the poor was necessary to “save” the country.

The tourism secretary blames the media and personalities like Vice President Leni Robredo for highlighting and discussing the killings of suspected drug users and pushers, which have been covered extensively for months by local and foreign media.

“These statements make it hard for us to sell the Philippines,” she told reporters covering the President’s visit to Thailand, and called on the media and commentators to “tone down” their references to the killings.

Well, duh. Maybe it’s the administration—and its killing arm, the Philippine National Police—that should “tone down” their campaign against drugs. Thousands of poor suspects have been killed, with little by way of investigation or evidence gathering, their bodies hauled off by funeral parlors who then charge the families exorbitant rates before releasing the bodies for burial. This is corruption on top of impunity, cruelty against not just the victims but the victims’ families, too.

This seems but the start of a concerted campaign to hit back at prominent critics of the policy of extrajudicial killings. It’s no coincidence, it seems to me, that the pleas to ignore the reports and criticisms of the war on drugs have been issued after controversy arose over the Vice President’s video message.

Pagcor Chair Andrea Domingo, speaking before a meeting of foreign groups, added her voice to the sniping, pleading with the guests to ignore Robredo’s statement and throwing shade at the reports of EJKs and the intimidating door-to-door “tokhang” operations.  “Have you seen dead bodies during your stay in the country?” she asked them, as if big-time gamblers enjoying their stint in plush casinos made it a habit to roam the dark streets in the most impoverished parts of the city.

To Teo and Domingo: You’re barking up the wrong tree. Better to direct your criticism at your boss, who made the war on drugs the centerpiece of his campaign platform. He encouraged police to use any and all methods to go after suspects, promising to protect them from prosecution. And in an unbridled moment, even boasted that the fish in Manila Bay would grow fat from feasting on the carcasses of all those killed. If words could hurt, it’s not the media or Robredo or other critics who are most at fault. Look to the President and his big mouth and deadly policies.

My sympathies to the people of the UK, with some unfortunate tourists among them, who must be reeling from the shock of the attack on Westminster Bridge near the Houses of Parliament in London.

Five people died and 40 people were injured, according to the BBC, when “a single attacker drove a car over Westminster Bridge… killing at least two pedestrians and injuring many more.” The car then crashed into the railings outside Parliament, after which the driver emerged carrying a knife and, running toward the building, stabbed and killed an unarmed policeman before being shot and killed himself.

Only the policeman’s identity has been confirmed, with no details yet on the assailant. But the incident seems of a piece with other terrorist efforts to sow mayhem using such innocuous “weapons” as a car or bus. Observers describe the scene as bathed in “pandemonium and panic,” with even tourists, including a group of French schoolchildren, among the dead and injured. What was the killer’s motivation? The mix of nationalities and occupations of the victims make facile analysis not just difficult but also foolhardy.