PNP Forbids Drinking on the Job

The PNP has now officially banned drinking while on duty. Who knew PNP officers were actually allowed, nay encouraged by the top brass, to drink on the job? 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1997769/consuming-intoxicating-drinks-at-pnps-workplaces-now-prohibited

Consuming any liquor or any intoxicating drinks  within the workplace of the Philippine National Police (PNP) is now prohibited, according to a memorandum issued on October 21 by the agency’s Chief of Directorial Staff.

“All offices/units are directed to strictly enforce the prohibition of drinking any kind of intoxicating liquor within the workplace (i.e offices, premises, or worksites, including training venues, places visited for field work assignment, and related situations),” the memorandum read.

Police officers were previously allowed “happy hour” and “beer busting” as a way to “unwind, foster camaraderie, and strengthen working relationships.”

However, the memorandum also said that the directive was instituted to prevent unfortunate instances such as endangering lives from these activities.

“[A]ll PNP personnel are reminded to always conduct and present themselves responsibly and professionally, in accordance with RA [Republic Act] No. 6713 and the PNP Ethical Doctrine,” the memorandum added.

RA No. 6713 provides the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees.

Further, the personnel who will violate the order and their Chief of Office/Unit Commander may be held liable.

Who was paying for the alcohol?  The taxpayer? Maybe it was donated by manufacturers. A few years back I posted a few pictures showing Tanduay's sponsorship of the PNP. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2018/09/pnp-sponsored-by-tanduay-rhum.html

I have seen liquor bottles on site at a PNP office once. But who knew happy hour and beer busting sessions were actually encouraged by leadership for officers to “unwind, foster camaraderie, and strengthen working relationships.” Aren't there better ways to do that without drinking on the job where guns are available? Apparently not.

It is rather shameful this practice has been encouraged for so many years. All that talk about cleaning up the ranks and the generals were letting their subordinates have a wild time in the office on the taxpayer's dime. Perhaps now the PNP will be a bastion of decency, incorruptibility, and sobriety. Doubt it. 

PNP Refuses to Prosecute Davao Cops Who Falsified Crime Statistics

A few months ago 19 Davao City cops were reassigned for unknown reasons. Now that reason has finally come to light. They covered up crime statistics by falsifying police blotters.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1969335/police-director-finds-doctored-police-blotter-in-davao-city

The misreporting of police blotters to sanitize Davao City’s real crime statistics was among the reasons for the reassignment of 19 police station commanders here, Police Brig. General Nicolas Torre III, director of Police Regional Office 11, said on Sunday.

Torre showed to reporters two books of police blotters that the blotter validation officer recovered from the Calinan police station shortly after he assumed office in June.

Both books of blotter, covering 2022 to 2023, appeared identical although some entries contained in the first book did not appear in the other.

Randomly skimming through the entries of one of the books, Torre read an entry on lost items last March 2, when a certain Jessica Galleros Jawa, 29, reported that her dark blue sling bag containing her wallet, debit card, and several IDs, was missing and believed to be stolen in Beep Plaza near Jollibee Calinan.

Instead of marking it as theft, the entry was reported only as a “lost item” and was marked “for recording purposes.”

“[They put there] ‘lost item,’ so that you don’t have to put that in the crime statistics pero kung binasa mo (but if you read it), it says, ‘it’s believed to be stolen inside Beep Plaza’ so, that’s theft. It’s not recorded so, peaceful pa rin ang Davao City. Dinoktor,” Torre said.

(So Davao City is still peaceful. It was misreported.)

Torre said it is important to report the crime correctly so that the police could take necessary actions about it.

“By misreporting it, or reporting it as if the crime did not happen, the police cannot put in place programs to address the problem. You can’t deploy operatives in the area because you can’t see it in the record, ” he added.

Torre noted that several entries in the book, which could have been reported as petty crimes, were only reported as “for the record,” which meant they were not included in the city’s crime statistics.

In another entry, at 12:30 a.m. also on March 2, a complainant reported how a drunk 22-year old resident of Purok 35 Lagazo Calinan district had a heated confrontation with her and had grabbed a knife in the middle of their argument, prompting her to call the police.

Although the police briefly took custody of the youth, the incident was tagged merely as “for [the] record, when it could possibly lead to more serious crimes,” Torre said.

He added that they discovered the sanitized books of blotter during their blotter validation, a standard procedure within the police force, but the police considered misreporting the blotter as a serious offense that could lead to dismissal from service as it constitutes false reporting and perjury.

“There’s a criminal case for it,” Torre said.

However, he said he would no longer pursue any further cases against the police station commanders involved.

Police Brig. General Nicolas Torre III, director of Police Regional Office 11, admits these 19 police commanders committed "a serious offense that could lead to dismissal from service as it constitutes false reporting and perjury" and yet he is no longer pursuing "any further cases against the police station commanders involved."

Why not?  

So much for PNP reform. So much for rooting out the bad apples. This lack of action sends a clear message that cops can get away with not only breaking the law but endangering the public by falsifying crime statistics.  

New DOJ Rules Allow Prosecutors to Investigate Crimes

The criminal justice system in the Philippines is fundamentally broken at every level. However, it seems there might be some hope yet as the DOJ has passed new rules allowing prosecutors to finally do their jobs. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1229731

Reforms undertaken by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the preliminary investigation process will protect the innocent from unwarranted charges and ensure that the guilty will be made to answer for their crimes, a senior DOJ official said Wednesday.

“The newly-signed Department of Justice – National Prosecution Service (DOJ-NPS) Rules on Criminal Investigation virtually changed the landscape in criminal investigation and prosecution by ensuring there is a higher degree of proof, there is a quantum of proof or evidence needed for the filing of cases," Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said during the 2024 Post State of the Nation Address (SONA) discussions.

The DOJ-NPS 2024 was signed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla at the Kalayaan Hall in Macalañang on July 10, with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. as witness.

Under the new rules, the standard of proof was raised from probable cause to prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction.

Vasquez said the new rules also call for more immersive participation by prosecutors in the investigation phase to ensure quality indictments and help weed out harassment suits.

"This is to ensure that only quality cases are filed, one that is supported by evidence, real, testimonial, and other corroborative witnesses, in order that the wrongdoers or criminals would really be brought to bear before the bar of justice, but at the same time, and more importantly, it is also assures that the innocents need not needlessly be charged in court nor incarcerated," he said.

"We will also try to formalize the close coordination between law enforcement and the prosecution in order that only trial-ready and evidence-supported cases will be filed."

Vasquez also pointed out that efforts have been initiated for the establishment of a Forensic Institute, which would make investigations science-based, in terms of criminal investigations and prosecutions.

"This is also useful in terms of calamity and disaster control because, with the higher capacity of our doctors and medical practitioners in terms of forensic science, we would be able to determine the real causes of death," he said.

Under these new rules prosecutors will now participate more in the investigation phase. What have prosecutors been doing all this time? Marcos says not only will prosecutors participate more in the investigation phase but they will lead it.

https://pco.gov.ph/news_releases/pbbm-welcomes-signing-of-doj-nps-rules-on-criminal-investigation/

The President said the new rules and procedures will ensure fairness and due process as the government protects its citizens.

“Through this, all prosecutors are now empowered to take the lead in criminal investigations, ensuring that there is proper and sufficient case build-up before filing in court,” he said.

President Marcos said the new rules will institutionalize the executive and inquisitorial nature of preliminary investigations in line with legal precedents and reinforcing the DOJ’s authority in this domain.

The guidelines will also enhance existing prosecutorial functions empowering the DOJ to take a proactive role in the investigation of crimes and ensure efficient case build-ups, he added.

Basically these new rules empower prosecutors to do their jobs. If prosecutors were not leading the investigation of criminal cases then what were they doing? Allowing for the cops to do the investigation. Everyone knows the PNP are corrupt and do not follow proper protocols. I wrote a whole article about it. 

Remulla blamed a culture of “arrests” within the PNP for what happened.

(Before, police would just keep arresting even without a case. If there is no case, they plant evidence. They can no longer do that. We will not allow that. That's why they're having problems.)

The Justice secretary said they are trying to address this culture by implementing new procedures under a new DOJ department circular which mandates prosecutors to take an active role in gathering evidence and building the case.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2023/07/not-following-proper-procedure-is-pnp.html

Let's take a look at this new law. 

https://www.doj.gov.ph/files/2024/DC_2024/DC%2015%20series%20of%202024.pdf

RULE III 

AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS AND INQUEST PROCEEDINGS 

Section 6. Prosecutors and Officers Authorized to Conduct Preliminary Investigation and Inquest Proceedings. All prosecutors, including prosecution attorneys, mentioned under R.A. No. 10071, and other officers as may be allowed by law, are authorized to conduct preliminary investigations and inquest proceedings. 

State prosecutors or prosecutors assigned at the Office of the Secretary of Justice Prosecution Staff shall have national jurisdiction over all crimes or offenses involving national security, all criminal cases for which task forces have been created, and all criminal cases in which the venues were transferred to avoid a miscarriage of justice, or when so directed by the Secretary of Justice as public interest may require. 

The city, provincial, or regional prosecutors and their assistants shall have jurisdiction over crimes or offenses, and violations of ordinances, cognizable by the proper courts in their respective territorial jurisdictions. 

It is simply incredible that only now do prosecutors have jurisdiction over crimes and the ability to lead investigations. How would they know if the case before them is valid without doing any investigation into the matter? 

Perhaps these new rules will bring change.  Only time will tell. 

The PNP Plays Loud Music to Disrupt SONA Protests

It should never be forgotten that in the Philippines free speech is something not encouraged. Sure Article 3 Section 4 of the Constitution says "No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances" but it does not say the police shall not prevent "the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances." Don't you know how wearisome it is for the PNP to attend to rallies?

Won't somebody please think of the poor police?

https://mb.com.ph/2024/7/19/pnp-chief-discourages-anti-gov-t-rally-for-upcoming-sona-terrible-inconvenience

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is dissuading anti-government protesters from holding a rally for the third State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Marcos Jr. at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City on Monday, July 22.

Citing similar situations in previous SONAs, PNP chief Police General Rommel Francisco Marbil said that the staging of rallies near the Batasang Pambansa Complex will only contribute to bad traffic situation.

“There are individuals applying at the local government units for a permit to conduct rally. I told them ‘Let’s just have a consultation first.’ It’s because anytime you can have a rally but the inconvenience that you will produce on the day of SONA is unacceptable,” Marbil said in a televised pre-SONA report on Friday, July 19.

“Those rallies cause not only a five-minute traffic. It will take an hour or two. Right now, there are many ongoing road projects in EDSA and the roads are getting smaller. If you hold a protest, just imagine the terrible inconvenience it will cause,” he added.

The PNP is expecting at least 5,000 anti-government protesters on the day of SONA, including participants of the “Hakbang ng Maisug” rally supported by former president Rodrigo Duterte and his supporters.

"Just imagine the terrible inconvenience it will cause," to the police. It may seem a little commonsensical because there are already rallies scheduled for the SONA but it's really part of a pattern. The PNP do not like to work and will encourage people to not file cases. When a cop pointed a gun at some noisy children the parents who filed a complaint were asked to drop the case "in the spirit of Christmas." In another instance a case was dropped by the PNP when the man apologized. He would go on to maul people for not giving him money. 

The PNP are not so stupid as to to try to stop all protests. But they can attempt to disrupt them with loud music. 

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/police-justify-playing-loud-music-during-rally-as-a-way-to-celebrate

“IT IS our practice in PRO 7 to celebrate,” said Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Pelare on why they played loud music when the people’s rally made a stop at the front of their office on Monday, July 22, 2024.

Hours before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his third State of the Nations Address (Sona) on Monday, July 22, 2024, local progressive groups staged a people’s rally at Fuente Osmeña Circle leading to Colon St. in Cebu City.

On their way, they made a stop in front of the PRO 7 where they raised banners indicating statistical figures of the number of people that were allegedly arrested unjustly by the police force.

While the rally was ongoing, PRO 7 personnel took out a speaker and played loud music.

“The rally has used the Police Regional Office as their venue in their protests and rallies, but the issues that they are coming up with are not in any way related to peace and security,” Pelare said during a press conference Tuesday, July 23.

On matters of playing loud sounds during the rally, Pelare asserted that it is only their way of celebrating the third Sona of Marcos.

“When there are occasions such as Sona, and other national events, it is our practice in PRO 7 to celebrate also. That is one of the ways that we can show our support in the Sona of the President,” he added.

Pelare assured the public that the police force fully supports the protesters in expressing their opinion, saying it is their “constitutionally guaranteed right” to stage a protest.

Now, that quite frankly is a load of crap. No word on what music they were playing to "celebrate" but perhaps it was an annoying anime theme song?

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/219245/loud-music-was-not-meant-to-disrupt-rally-says-sinas

The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO – 7) denied allegations that it attempted to drown the speeches of militants who staged a rally in front of its headquarters last Monday, February 25, 2019, by playing the theme song of a popular anime show through loudspeakers.

In a press conference today, Tuesday (February 26), Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas, PRO-7 director, said they played the theme song of Voltes V at the same time when seven militant groups in Cebu protested in front of PRO- 7’s gate along Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City because “it was a holiday”.

"It was not for them. It was a holiday [for us]. Of course, it was played so that we could buy it and the police also like it (working on a holiday). It's even (played) on our PA (public address) system," said Sinas.

The same thing also happened on May 1st of this year, 2024.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=5790871521036994

HAPPENING NOW: PRO-7 blasts loud music amid Labor Day protest

While protesters were calling for justice against state-sponsored killings, cops played loud music in front of the Police Regional Office - 7, Sergio Osmeña St., Cebu City.

This happened few minutes before the main program commenced.

Publio Briones, a writer for Sunstar, testifies these speakers were installed by former PNP Chief Sinas for the express purpose of drowning out protestors. 

Sinas ordered speakers to be installed in front of the PRO 7 headquarters, which played very loud music to drown out the voices of protesters. I’m not sure if the music was disco. The protesters weren’t amused. I thought it was funny.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/opinion/briones-hail-to-the-chief

But who needs speakers when you a band?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3521699841419828

WATCH: The PNP band loudly performs to divert attention from the chanting of protesters in front of the Police Regional Office 7 in Cebu City on Thursday, September 21. Various groups conduct protests to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law.

The song being played is Zombie by The Cranberries which is a protest song against the Irish Republican Army's bombing which killed two children. 

I'm sure there are more incidents of the PNP playing loud music to disrupt protests but the point has been made.

Filipinos are guaranteed there shall be no law restricting their freedom of speech or the right to peaceably assemble. However, they are not guaranteed the PNP won't attempt to disrupt peaceful assemblies with loud music. 

A Tale of Two Murder Cases

The Philippine justice system is quite broken and there is no better way to demonstrate that fact than by comparing cases involving the same crime. The following two cases involve murder. It's the details that differ.

This first case is rather open and shut as it involves a witness, a ballistic examination, and a paraffin test. Presumption of innocence notwithstanding this man is guilty. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1947975/makati-prosecutors-office-finds-basis-to-sue-road-rage-suspect-for-murder

The Makati City Prosecutor’s Office found probable cause to file a murder case against the suspect in a road rage that occurred along the southbound lane of the Edsa Ayala tunnel in Makati City.

The incident resulted in the death of a stay-in driver.

Citing a resolution released by the prosecutor’s office on Monday, PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said suspect Gerard Raymond Yu is facing complaints of murder and carrying of firearms without permits.

“The Office of the City Prosecutor of Makati has issued a resolution finding probable cause to charge our arrested suspect Yu with murder charges for violation of Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code and violation of Section 31 of Republic Act 10591,” Fajardo said, speaking in a mix of English and Filipino, in a press briefing on Tuesday.

The PNP official said the paraffin test results on Yu and the ballistic examination of his firearms were among the bases the prosecutor cited.

Last May 29. Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. revealed that Yu tested positive for gunpowder from the confiscated weapons, which also matched the recovered fired cartridge at the scene.

“In the body of the resolution, the prosecutor says that he [Yu] chased [the victim] and made sure that he positioned himself on the right side of the Innova so that the victim would not notice him,” Fajardo said.

“The case was elevated, and the prosecutor agreed to the murder case we filed yesterday. The city prosecutor also filed information for murder before the Regional Trial Court of Makati,” she added.

And rightly the Makati prosecutor's office says they will be filing charges. There is no waiting for the victims family to file a case. There is no nonsense. There is the City legal office taking charge and filing a case.

Compare that to the following case. A 20 year old 11th grader (that is a whole different story!) was gunned down in his house in front of his parents. It was a case of revenge over a charge of rape. No matter the victim appears innocent. The fact is the cops and the parents seem to know who the perpetrator is. 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/6/6/police-brutal-slay-of-grade-11-student-triggered-by-alleged-rape-incident

Police said that the brutal killing of a Grade 11 student in Barangay Granada here was triggered by rumors linking him to an alleged rape incident.

Police Capt. Portia Nillosan, head of Police Station 5, said that 20-year-old Nicus Balagosa was allegedly shot by the father of the alleged rape victim in front of his parents in their house on Sunday, June 2.

Balagosa was mistakenly tagged as one of those who allegedly raped the 16-year-old daughter of one of the gunmen, according to Nillosan. 

Nillosan said the alleged rape incident happened a few days ago, when the teenage girl and Balagosa attended a friend’s birth anniversary party with their two other friends aged 17 and 19.

However, it was reported late to the police, she added.

After learning the incident involving his daughter, Nillosan said the girl’s father confronted Balagosa’s two friends who denied any involvement in the incident.

However, Nillosan said that the girl’s father may have heard rumors linking Balagosa to the incident that triggered him to act violently.

Nillosan said that based on medical examination, the girl was positively sexually molested. But she noted that based on their investigation, Balagosa had left the party before the alleged rape happened.  

She said they are probing Balagosa’s two friends in relation to the alleged rape incident.

Nillosan said they already have four persons of interest in the shooting incident and they have also identified the girl’s father as one of the two gunmen. However, she refused to name him to protect the identity of the alleged rape victim.

She said they were not able to clearly see the license plates of the get-away vehicle through a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera, making it difficult for them to identify the car owner.

She said they are awaiting Balagosa’s family to file murder charges against the perpetrators who are still at large.

Wow. There are suspicions about who pulled the trigger but nothing definite at this point and the PNP is waiting for the FAMILY TO FILE CHARGES????  Are they supposed to conduct an investigation and figure out who killed their son? OF course not. That is the job of the PNP. And they should be the ones who file the case and forward it to the City Prosecutor's Office. 

Now, let's look at a third case. DILG Secretary Abalos has warned barangays that all online sexual child abuse cases must be prosecuted. There is no room for settlement. 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/6/5/abalos-warns-barangays-no-settlement-of-online-child-sexual-abuse-cases

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur’’ Abalos Jr. warned barangay officials on Wednesday, June 5, that there should absolutely no settlement of Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or exploitation of Children (OSAEC) cases at their level.

In a press briefing, Abalos urged the public to report online child sexual abuse and exploitation cases to proper law enforcement authorities as he vowed that those involved would be prosecuted.

He reiterated that local officials could be held liable if proven that they are instrumental in the “settlement’’ of these cases.

“To all those watching now, these are children, victims, this is a crime. You cannot say that this is only a camera that is only focused on them like that. Because there is this mindset. Some will say that is only a camera, no, even if it is only a camera, even if it is anything, this is a crime against children,’’ Abalos emphasized.

In the same briefing, National Coordination Council (NCC) against OSAEC Executive Director Margarita Magsaysay stressed that the barangay should endorse these cases to proper law enforcement authorities since settlement of this nature is out of the question.

She cited that the preference to settle these cases at the barangay level has probably something to do with maintaining family harmony, which should not be done since justice is not served to the child/victim with the perpetrators having the luxury of victimizing other children again.

Look at the reasoning here. There is to be no settlement because online child sexual abuse is a crime. No kidding!  But so is murder. So is homicide as a result of reckless driving. So is theft. So are so many other crimes yet the so-called justice system lets these crimes slip through the cracks because either the victims and the perpetrators settle or the victims refuse to prosecute. 

But it should NEVER be the job of the victim to prosecute. This is why so many criminals get away. Prosecution should be up to the City Prosecutor. And that is why the Philippine justice system remains broken. 

Some People Need Killing: Book Review

Some People Need Killing is former Rappler reporter Patricia Evangelista's account of Duterte's drug war. 

The story is familiar to everyone. Duterte was elected as president of the Philippines in 2016 on the promise of killing drug users and criminals and cleaning up the country.  As Duterte warned:

“I’m telling the Filipino people, not me,” said the mayor. “It’s going to be bloody, because I will not sit there as president and just like any other regime, say, ‘That’s all I can do.’ If you put me there, do not fuck with me.”

But, Patricia notes, none of Duterte's supporters took his words literally. In fact to believe anything he said was to be meshed in a net of contradictions.

To vote for Rodrigo Duterte, you had to believe in certain things. You had to believe, for example, that he was a righteous man. You had to believe he wasn’t a rapist, and didn’t want to be a rapist. You had to believe he was poor, or was once poor, or had lived with the poor. You had to believe in destiny. You had to believe in God. You had to believe that God had a peculiar preference for deadly autocrats, because the presidency is destiny and Rodrigo Duterte was destined to lead.

To believe in Rodrigo Duterte, you had to believe he was brave. You had to believe he would cut America out of military agreements and that Barack Obama was a son of a bitch. You had to fear China, or you had to love China, or you had to believe, in the face of China’s territorial aggression, that Rodrigo Duterte was willing to ride a Jet Ski out into the open sea to plant a flag on the disputed islands China had seized.

To believe in Rodrigo Duterte, you had to believe he was a killer, or that he was joking when he said he was a killer. You had to believe in the specter of a narco state, or you had to believe that he was only playing to the crowd. You had to believe drug addiction is criminal, that drug addicts are not human, and that their massacre can be considered acceptable public policy. You had to believe he could make crime and corruption and illegal drugs disappear in three to six months. You had to believe that a mayor who kept peace by ordering undesirables out of his city could succeed in a country where undesirables were citizens too. You had to believe the intended dead would be drug lords and rapists, only drug lords and rapists, and not your cousins who go off into Liguasan Marsh to pick up their baggies of meth. You had to believe there would be a warning before the gunshots ring out.

To believe in Rodrigo Duterte, you had to believe he was just. You had to believe he was honest. You had to believe he was untainted by the oligarchy and beholden to no one. You had to believe he was your father. You had to believe he was your savior. You had to believe he loved you, because you love him enough to carry his name.

Months before the election Patricia collaborated on a Rappler series profiling each candidate and imagining how their presidency would play out. Of Duterte Patrica wrote:

In the three months before the presidential election, I collaborated on an opinion series with the sociologist Nicole Curato. The Imagined President was a series of presidential profiles published in Rappler, mapping the narrative arcs of every presidential candidate. We compared myth with reality in an attempt to understand what resonated with the voting public.

The final installment was published on May 2, seven days before the elections. It ended with a warning: “If Rodrigo Duterte wins,” we wrote, “his dictatorship will not be thrust upon us. It will be one we will have chosen for ourselves. Every progressive step society has made has been diminished by his presence. Duterte’s contempt for human rights, due process, and equal protection is legitimized by the applause at the end of every speech. We write this as a warning. The streets will run red if Rodrigo Duterte keeps his promise. Take him at his word—and know you could be next.”

I regretted those sentences within a day of publication. They were sensational, colorful, with none of the restraint expected of working journalists. I would have expunged them if I could.

On June 30, 2016, we became Duterte. The streets ran red.

The rest of the book is mostly a catalogue of how the streets ran red. 

Patricia documents particular killings, the involvement of vigilante groups such as the Confederate Sentinels Group (CSG), the attitude of the PNP, the deception of the PNP and their involvement in the killings, and her own journalistic endeavors. 

It is a matter of record that Duterte promised cops they would not be prosecuted for murder so long as they were doing their duty. 

The president offered every cop a promise. He would believe them if they claimed to have killed in the performance of duty. Every cop charged and convicted who followed his orders would be pardoned. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to kill for as long as it’s those idiots, if they start to fuck with your city.”

So, the killings began. Every night the bodies piled up with each time the cops claiming the dead pulled a gun and the killing was done in self-defense as their duty. Analyzing many individual cases Patricia notes the PNP was getting an unbelievably high and accurate kill ratio:

More than a hundred suspects “who yielded” were arrested. All thirty- two suspects who offered armed resistance were shot and killed. There were no injured cops. There were no wounded suspects. To believe this narrative is to believe that local cops clocked a 100 percent kill rate, higher than the already improbable 97 percent reported by a Reuters investigative team in 2016, higher than the 83 percent of the notorious police shootings in Rio de Janeiro.

“Luckily,” wrote one Bulacan lieutenant colonel, “there were no casualties on the PNP side.”

Were they murders? The cops did not call these deaths murders. If they were not murders, was every Bulacan policeman, including the rawest of recruits, a marksman of such astonishing talent that every random armed encounter was met with such fatal accuracy? If they were not murders, how was it possible that police reported no casualties after twenty-five separate gunfights inside a single twenty-four-hour period? And if they were not murders, did every suspect who shot at the police miss the target?

Luck, said the police.

Good, said the president.

Patricia spends a good deal explaining how language was subverted, not just to describe the drug war, but also in everyday parlance. Take for instance the word "salvage."

There are other terms for this. Extrajudicial killing. Vigilante-style murder. Targeted assassination. In the Philippines, a specific word evolved for this specific sort of death. The word is salvage.

Contronyms are Janus words, two-faced and adversarial. An alarm can turn off, or it can go off. A moon might be out as the lights go out. Contronyms mean the opposite of themselves, occupying an abstract category of the English language. He left; she was left. He ran fast; she held fast. He sanctioned the killings; she sanctioned the killers.

Salvage, in my country, is a contronym. It is a hopeful word everywhere else. To salvage is to rescue, regardless of whether the salvaged is a ship or a soul. Salvage and salvation are rooted in the same word—salvus, “to save.” So sayeth the book of Luke: “And Jesus said to him, this day is salvation come to this house, as much as he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

During the drug war no one was killed, they were neutralized. 

Here is another word for death. The word is neutralized.

Project Double Barrel, laid out in Command Memorandum Circular No. 16-2016, seeks, among other goals, the “neutralization of illegal drug personalities nationwide.” Human rights lawyers argue it is an order to kill.

On the basis of that word, they have challenged the entire drug war apparatus at the high court.

Nowhere in the memorandum, or elsewhere in Philippine law, is the word neutralization defined. “Neutralize means to kill,” wrote the lawyers of the Free Legal Assistance Group.

The government insisted that to neutralize meant only “to overcome resistance.” Whether that meant to disable or to kill depended on the exigencies of the moment. Those moments are many. Twenty-six-year-old Raymond Yumul of Concepcion in Tarlac was neutralized. Jeffrey Cruz of Carcel Street in Quiapo was neutralized. Samar native Wilfredo Chavenia was “neutralized while the other suspect managed to escape.” John Ryan Baluyot of Olongapo City was “completely neutralized.” Two unnamed male suspects, distinguished only by the color of their shirts—one white, one gray—were both neutralized. Fernando Gunio of Quezon City, who “sensed the presence of police operatives,” allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired, forcing the police to “neutralize the said suspect.” Forty-two- year-old Arnel Cruz and fifty-one-year-old Oliver Reganit “were neutralized before they could hide in the middle of the cornfield.” Renato dela Rosa, alias Jay-jay Toyo, after allegedly opening fire, was cornered and “subsequently neutralized by the responding police officers.”

Each of these men is dead, but in the official reports of all these cases, none of them were referred to in the narrative of events as killed. They were neutralized, verb and noun, as was narrated by the Bulacan officers who shot Justine Bucacao and Bernard Lizardo: “Neutralized suspects sustained gunshot wounds on different parts of their bodies.”

Then there is the word "good." Duterte called the drug war killings "maganda 'yun." But as Patricia informs us Duterte did not mean the killings were "good" he meant they were "beautiful."

“Thirty-two died early in Bulacan in a massive raid,” said President Duterte. “Maganda ‘yun.”

In Filipino, maganda means “beautiful.” It can also mean “good.” It was unclear what the president meant that afternoon in August, but there was a reason every English-language local news organization chose to use the word good instead of beautiful. Good, as egregious a judgment as it was, was far less outrageous than beautiful. Beautiful would have offered an element of pleasure, a romanticizing of brutality, the impression that the commander in chief of a democratic republic was not just pleased but delighted by the ruthless killing of his citizens.

Those of us who wrote of the president and his frequent incitements to violence did so in good faith, offering the benefit of the doubt to a man whose rambling threats had come to target members of the free press. We translated his putang ina into “son of a bitch” instead of “son of a whore.”

We repeated his spokespersons’ smiling excuses, their explanations that the president should be taken “seriously, not literally,” that his words required “creative imagination” in their interpretation, and that it was only “heightened bravado” that had him encouraging his soldiers to rape on the battlefield.

I quoted the president’s statement on my own social media page: “ ‘Thirty-two died early in Bulacan in a massive raid,’ said President Duterte. ‘That’s good.’ ”

A reader left a comment. “For the record, he did not say 32 dead was a good thing,” he wrote. “Duterte said it was beautiful. Let not the perversity be lost in translation.”

Here then is what the president said in the late afternoon of August 16, 2017.

“Thirty-two died early in Bulacan in a massive raid. That’s beautiful. If we can kill another thirty-two every day, then maybe we can reduce what ails the country.”

It is rather odd that Patricia speaks of writing "the President and his frequent incitements to violence did so in good faith, offering the benefit of the doubt." After already noting that he threatened to kill and after writing a profile warning "the streets will run red if Rodrigo Duterte keeps his promise. Take him at his word." What benefit of the doubt was there to give except to take him at his word which she says is literal? 

During Duterte's term and even now the argument rages on whether Duterte ever ordered the cops to kill anyone. Yet, that is exactly what happened as soon as he was elected. Why? Because he told the cops to do so. Likewise the killings stopped when Duterte told the cops to stop killing. This came about because of the killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo.

The story made the international news. The South Korean embassy called for an investigation. The Senate held hearings. Two police officers were charged with, one later convicted of, the crime kidnapping with homicide. There were reports the victim’s head had been wrapped in packing tape and his corpse cremated—before a panicked funeral parlor employee flushed the ashes down a toilet.

It was seven months after the declaration of the drug war. More than seven thousand were dead, and only then was Rodrigo Duterte finally willing to concede his cops had done wrong. “I apologize for the death of your compatriot,” he told the South Korean government in a public address. “We are very sorry that it had to happen.”

The chief of the Philippine National Police, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, stood before the media and said the police would “focus on internal cleansing.” He said he would have preferred to kill the cops involved, if only it were legal. He called the crime offensive. He would “melt in shame if I could.”

President Rodrigo Duterte called the incident an embarrassment but refused Dela Rosa’s offer to resign. On January 30, 2017, the president suspended the same police institution he had empowered from participation in the war against drugs. Police antidrug units were dissolved. He called the police “the most corrupt, corrupt to the core.” He called them criminals. The war would continue, but there would be no more police operations against illegal drugs.

On that night, every drug war journalist I knew gathered at the press office of the Manila Police District. We waited. There were no crime scenes that night. No drug addict died; no dealer was shot. Not in Manila, not in Caloocan, not in Cebu or Navotas or the slums of Quezon City. The president had spoken, and for the first time in seven months—with the exception of Christmas Day—no new names were added to the death count. It came as no surprise that the cops kept their guns holstered, but the vigilantes did too. There were no salvagings, no drive-by shootings, no masked gunmen kicking down doors of suspected meth dealers. The uniformed militia stood down, and so did, if the reports were to be believed, the killers they employed. The death toll stopped at 7,080.

The war, or what had been called the war, ended with the flush of a toilet.

How can anyone read that and come away with any other conclusion than the PNP was working off the orders of Duterte?

The book ends with a discussion of how many were killed during the drug war and profiles the regret of several former Duterte supporters. Needless to say the exact number of the dead will never be known.

I cannot, with any certainty, report the true toll of Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs. Numbers cannot describe the human cost of this war, or adequately measure what happens when individual liberty gives way to state brutality. Even the highest estimate—over 30,000 dead—is likely insufficient to the task.

When the intention is to lie, numbers can make extraordinary liars. Even government agencies fail to agree on how many the police killed in alleged antidrug operations. The PNP’s Directorate for Operations put those deaths at 7,884 in August 2020. The government’s communications office, two years later, lowered the total to 6,252 in May 2022. The last of the DUI numbers was released in 2019, but the number is meaningless in determining drug-related deaths, conflated as it is with every possible variation of homicide.

The truth is almost certainly much higher. A study by Columbia University’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism estimated that government figures were “a gross underestimation of the extent of drug- related killings in the Philippines.” The Supreme Court demanded all documents on the “total of 20,322 deaths during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug war.” The Commission on Human Rights chairperson Chito Gascon said the number of drug-related deaths could go “as high as 27,000.” International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that “between 12,000 and at least 20,000 killings” were committed in relation to the drug war.

Of course all these numbers are called baseless propaganda by the government. 

While Patricia writes a compelling narrative about the facts of the drug war one thing she does not do is offer a reason as to why it happened. She gives a "what" but not a mechanism of "why." Perhaps one quote from the book offers insight. At the funeral of one drug war victim several people dressed like PNP officers showed up. But they were not cops. They were "force multipliers" going by the name of Philippines Hotline Movement Incorporated (PHMI). One observer commented:

“They look like idiots,” Vincent Go said, when I caught a ride with him to the cemetery. “That’s the thing with Filipinos. They put on a uniform, and suddenly they think they’re kings. Even during the pandemic, even in the villages, even if they’re just security guards. They’re so proud of their outfits, their vests, something changes inside of them. Clueless morons thinking they’re enforcing the law, but really they have no goddamn clue what they’re doing.”

Why did the drug war happen as it did? Why did the PNP kill with impunity and why do they continue to be a corrupt organization? Because of those uniforms which imbue them with a sense of superiority and bestows upon them their power. They are cops, a brotherhood, who can do whatever they want without consequence because they stand above the crowd. As Gaspar de San Augustin wrote in 1720:

43. They act tyrannically one toward another. Consequently, the Indian who has some power from the Spaniard is insolent and intolerable among, them—so much so that, in the midst of their ingratitude, some of them recognize it, although very few of them. Yet it is a fact that, if the Spaniards had not come to these islands, the Indians would have been destroyed; for, like fish, the greater would have swallowed the lesser, in accordance with the tyranny which they exercised in their paganism.

http://www.philippinehistory.net/views/1720sanagustinb.htm

During the Referendum of 1599 Filipinos thanked the Spanish from saving them from the tyranny of their chiefs. 

The bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Pedro de Soria, collected those Indians together, by order of his Majesty, and told them of the advantages of the Spanish monarchy, and how beneficial it would be for them to have Don Felipe, the king of the Spaniards, as their king, who would protect them peacefully and with justice. The chiefs answered not a word to this. Thereupon, the bishop spoke again and asked them whether they had understood the words he had spoken to them, and if they would answer. Thereupon a clownish Indian arose and said: “We answer that we wish the king of España to be our king and sovereign, for he has sent Castilians to us, who are freeing us from the tyranny and domination of our chiefs, as well as fathers who aid us against the same Castilians and protect us from them.”

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-philippine-referendum-of-1599.html

In the Philippines it has always been the way of the ruling class to oppress the masses even before the Spanish arrived. The tendency towards tyrannical rule is in the blood of Filipinos.

But rare, non-existent really, is the journalist, the writer, the researcher who will investigate the Philippines by noting racial characteristics unique to Filipinos and extrapolating from those traits a reason for Filipino society being the way it is. Thankfully Gaspar de San Augustin was not afraid to do so.

Cebu City Officials and PNP Refuse to Enforce the Law

The Philippines is a nation with laws but it is not a nation where the rule of law takes precedence. Enforcement is very selective. Here is the latest example from Cebu City. 

https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/561348/little-cardo-dalisay-in-cebu-nabbed-accused-of-hurting-people-who-do-not-give-alms

Harvey Cuervo, 19, dubbed as the Little Cardo Dalisay in Cebu, went viral once again. But this time, not for the right reasons.

Cuervo is now detained at the Cebu City Police Station after police arrested him on Sunday midnight, March 10, for illegal possession of firearms.

Prior to his arrest, photos of the young adult circulated on social media when reports that he allegedly hurt passengers who refused to give him money after singing and begging for alms in jeepneys surfaced.

Basak Pardo Captain Dave Tumulak said his office had received multiple complaints since the first week of March, accusing Cuervo of harming them when they did not give him money.

Some of the victims claimed they were scratched, and their feet stomped, Tumulak said.

“Mao nang pasalamat ta nahipos ra sad siya sa mga pulis,” he told CDN Digital in a phone interview.

(We are grateful that he was arrested by the police.)

The suspect, in a separate interview with reporters, claimed he decided to get a gun as ‘self-defense.’ Since his photos went viral online, he said he began fearing for his life.

The barangay chief also confirmed that Cuervo was the kid who went viral in 2018, earning the nickname ‘Little Cardo Dalisay in Cebu’ when videos of his singing skills inside a jeepney circulated on social media.

Aside from illegal possession of firearms, Cuervo might also face cases for violating the city’s Anti-Mendicancy Law, and for committing slight physical injuries and threats to passengers, Tumulak said.

Officials initially planned to lodge these charges against the suspect before his arrest last Saturday but dropped them after he issued a public apology, through a pre-recorded video, on the internet last March 6.

He also vowed not to hurt passengers anymore.

But just a day after his apology video was published, Tumulak received another series of complaints, alleging that Cuervo broke his promise by hurting jeepney passengers again.

“This time, mu-file na sad mi og separate case against niya,” Tumulak added.

(This time, we will file a separate case against them.)

In the meantime, the village chieftain urged individuals, who were victimized by Cuervo to come forward so they could build their case against him.

“Pwede ra sila mureach out sa akoa sa Facebook,” said Tumulak.

(They can reach out to me in Facebook.)

He also told the riding public to be always vigilant of their surroundings, and for barangay tanods (village peacekeepers in English) to strengthen their monitoring in areas frequented by beggars.

A 19 year old street beggar who has been begging at least since he was 13 has been arrested for harming people who did not give him money. Complains were lodged to the police and they were prepared to arrest him. But he issued a public apology so they decided to forgive him. Isn't that so gracious and lovely of the police? Just look how repentant and sorry he is:

Unsurprisingly he not only broke his promise but he also procured a gun for his own protection after his face was blasted all over social media. How exactly was he able to obtain a gun when he begs for his living? 

Because he started harming people again city officials decided that now they would finally arrest him and charge him with a crime. But they need the public's help. They need victims to come forward so they can build a case. Why would the public come forward now when they were ignored in the first place? What good is having a police force or a local government who REFUSE to enforce the laws?

That includes the anti-mendicancy laws. In the Philippines it is illegal to beg and illegal to give to beggars.  Yet this man has been on the street since at least 2018, for SIX YEARS!! Everyone thought he was cute as a 13 year old singing and dancing for change but now he is a grown man with a grudge and a gun. How long before he causes real and lasting harm to someone? And all because the laws in the Philippines are not enforced.

The Cebu City officials who declined to prosecute this man because he posted an apology on Facebook are a danger to society. They have shown that they are untrustworthy people who do not care about protecting the community. They need to be removed from office and replaced with people who will protect the community from criminals who do harm to law abiding citizens.