I was accused of fear-mongering when I tried to dissuade people not to vote for Duterte during the campaign period. When I told that his intent to kill drug addicts, pushers, drug lords and everyone in between will inspire chaos and give several people the cover to kill others for whatever motive they may have. I said, with the authorities too busy on the drug crackdown, killings and murders would no longer be properly investigated. I also told anyone, who cares to listen, that it is a certainty that the earliest casualty and by far the biggest in number are the small time drug peddlers, those whose family can only drown their sorrows in tears and will never be able to bring themselves anywhere near a lawyer, much more a court of law to seek justice. Not, mind you because of shame or guilt but because they do not have the means to do it.
Armed only with Newton's Law of Motion and the little knowledge I have on human behavior in society; I discussed exhaustively what I thought would be the possible ramifications and backlash(es) of such a campaign.
I may have convinced some, but only too little, too few. Most of the die-hards would just shrug and said "di sad tingali oy" and those who are all out fanatics had said that I am just maliciously fear-mongering.
I may have convinced some, but only too little, too few. Most of the die-hards would just shrug and said "di sad tingali oy" and those who are all out fanatics had said that I am just maliciously fear-mongering.
As Duterte made good of his promise of a bloody period, my deductions, it seems, have been proven to be right on que. Not barely six months into the promised completion of stopping the drug and crime problems; we already managed to have thousands killed with only a fraction identified as police operations and the rest attributed to vigilante killings and others unknown. In addition, there's that bombing in Davao that kills innocent people allegedly by Abu Sayyaf as paid hitmen of some druglord.
Duterte had already put the country into a state of lawlessness after that blast. And now, he is again intimating that terrorism in Mindanao can turn into a full-blown civil war. Is it just me, or are you now feeling the fear shivering up your spine?
He cursed the Pope and cursed the UN then threatened to pull us out of there. He also insulted Pres Obama and deliberately aimed to embarrass and shame him during the recent ASEAN Summit by showing our tragic history with them. Then just recently he ordered US troops out of Mindanao and made sweeping accusations that America is inflaming insurgencies in the region. All this he did while smooching with China and Russia. Now, we all know what China and Russia stands for, or do we really?
The question now becomes, where does Duterte want to lead us? From my side of the viewing deck, the future looks grim for us. The pattern of the recent events failed to offer me reassurance. Again, I'm afraid. And now the fear is more real than ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment