This is in reaction to the item, “Duterte earns German national’s respect” (Opinion, 5/26/15).
A certain Jürgen Schöfer, who obviously resides in the Philippines, expressed his admiration for Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and the way the latter deals with criminals in his territory. He sent a letter to the Inquirer proposing the “final solution,” like what he believes the good mayor is doing to combat criminality in Davao.
The proposal is exceedingly scary, coming from a German. Those who know history surely understand the gravity of the phrase.
With all due respect to Mayor Duterte, whom I also admire, as a law-abiding citizen I still believe in the majesty of the law.
As I see it, the problem lies not in the Filipino people not being capable of reform, or in the Philippines, an Asian nation, being different from the Western countries, which Schöfer cited; it is in the failure of law enforcement officers, from the judges to the police forces, to execute the law to the letter.
Many of them are corrupt, and in many cases are themselves coddlers of criminals and perpetrators of the crime they are supposed to prevent or solve.
I believe that we have not descended to the situation where the ultimate option is to kill suspected criminals once and for all. The reimposition of the death penalty is the more palatable option.
—RAMON MAYUGA, ramon.mayuga49@gmail.com