Is it our own ‘Reign of Terror’?

At the outset, President Rodrigo Duterte promised he would be harsh. He has kept his word. Since July 1, close to a thousand suspected drug pushers have been killed by the police and vigilantes. Several hundred thousand drug users have been thrown in jail. Nearly all the fatalities were killed “while resisting arrest,” but The New York Times has reported the case of father and son Renato and Jaypee Bartes, who were killed while already detained by the police. The police said the two had tried to escape by seizing an officer’s gun but forensic examination found that both men had been incapacitated by beatings before they were shot. Jaypee Bartes had a broken right arm, according to the report.

Now the police are entering private homes in private subdivisions looking for drugs and drug pushers and users without any search or arrest warrant. DU30 has excoriated the United Nations for asking him to end the extrajudicial killings, calling it interference in the internal affairs of our republic. A reported Malacanang “dare” to the UN, issued by Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, to come and see for themselves what’s happening here has created a muddle inside the Palace, after the UN Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions Dr. Agnes Callamard had “accepted the invitation.”