History repeating itself

THIS REFERS to the news item titled “Widow tells Duterte: Kill drugs, not people” (Front Page, 8/1/16).

The enemies of the Republic and its people are not the drug dependents or those hooked on drugs or their coddlers in the government. The enemy is illegal drugs.

Given this fact, President Duterte should not order the killing of any person, be they guilty or not.

The millennials should know that in the first year of martial law, dictator Ferdinand Marcos got the highest approval trust rating. Then the people in the military, police, executive, legislative, judiciary and even coffee servers, gardeners, drivers, and security guards started to be abusive. Then some 10,000 people (excluding desaparecidos and victims and survivors of unreported torture) became easy victims of martial law atrocities.

History appears to be repeating itself. Marcos supposedly wanted change in the form of what he called “New Society.” Mr. Duterte wants change and he would do this by encouraging extrajudicial and vigilante killings and by promoting the values of communism.

I agree 101 percent with the Catholic Church’s call for vigilant cooperation and harmonious partnership with the Duterte presidency in order to protect or uphold the dignity of life; and respect for the rule of law, human rights and the Constitution; and presumption of innocence.

—ISIDRO C. VALENCIA,
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