Are you crazy or just plain stupid?
According to educator and philosopher, Paul J. Glenn (1933), some of the notable errors in thinking are “the careless acceptance of common and uncriticized opinions; prejudice; and inordinate predominance of personal preference”.1 This happens when a false is judged to be true and the true is judged to be false. Crazy and stupid!
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When tough-talking Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency in the last May 9, 2016 elections, he became the presumptive president and later on the president-elect. By June 30, 2016, he will take his oath of office. Duterte’s day 1 as President of the Republic of the Philippines starts on July 1, 2016. Legally, Noynoy Aquino is our President until June 30, 2016.
So why are some people implicitly blaming Duterte for what the policemen and law enforcers are doing relative to the alleged unlawful killings of criminals especially drug lords and drug pushers? What Duterte says is still unofficial until he becomes the President. He still cannot give an executive order. Maybe most people believe that the incoming President already has the power to act as President. This is crazy and stupid!
What about Davao?
Well, it may be argued that Rodrigo Duterte is still the Mayor of Davao, so anything that happens in Davao is his responsibility. Yes. True. However, he still has a boss and ultimately his boss is still President Aquino. Ahem! What happened to command responsibility?
His bosses also include all incumbent members of the executive branch that consists of all department heads, police and military nationwide as in the whole country. Duh…
“Article VII, Section 1, of the 1987 Constitution vests executive power on the President of the Philippines. The President is the Head of State and Head of Government, and functions as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. As chief executive, the President exercises control over all the executive departments, bureaus, and offices.” 2
“The executive branch extends beyond the national government. According to Article X, Section 4 of the constitution, the President of the Philippines is mandated to supervise local governments all over the country.“ 2
“The President of the Philippines has the mandate of control over all the executive departments, bureaus, and offices. This includes restructuring, reconfiguring, and appointments of their respective officials. The Administrative Code also provides for the President to be responsible for the abovementioned offices’ strict implementation of laws.” 2
Now what can be clearer than that?
I know what most of you are thinking. Yes, he is not yet the president but he is influencing and encouraging the police and other authorities to “shoot-to-kill” criminals if their lives are in danger. Short answer, then the authorities in power should do something about it. Again, Duterte is not yet the President.
Why are the killings starting already?
I can only speculate about the real reason why the police are intensifying their drive in arresting and killing criminals. Why the sudden spike? There are only 2 reasons I can think of why is this being done only after Duterte clearly won the elections:
- The authorities are showing the incoming President that they are doing their jobs well, that they are actually working on wiping out criminality;
- The authorities know that the criminals they are protecting will sing like a canary once they are caught. Better to have dead witnesses than go to jail.
So, pretending to reform before Duterte takes over is one reason and keeping their involvement in criminal activities concealed is the second reason. If I can think about this so can those hardened, callous, corrupt, nefarious, unscrupulous and apathetic scalawag criminal protectors. Leaving no trace is becoming a common goal of all. They are ensuring that all vestiges are eliminated; all the remnants, proofs and indications of the criminal involvement must be obliterated.
It’s too late to have a clean slate. Their secrets will leak like a stench of a dead rat. No matter how hard they try to hide their dirty secrets, no solution can mask decades of deeply entrenched corruption.
Most police and law-enforcement officers I met know who and where the criminals operate. It is common knowledge that powerful politicians protect the criminals they know. They were very reluctant in doing something about this because it will destroy their careers and they might even make them end up in jail or end up dead. Now, it becomes hard to blame a law enforcer for not doing their job.
Scores of deaths
I read so much news about drug dealers and other criminals who were shot dead by law enforcers and vigilante groups. Everyday I read and see lots of stories about deaths of suspected criminals.
According to Philippines Daily Inquirer “So far, more than 40 drug suspects had been killed since Duterte’s poll victory on May 9, compared with the 39 recorded in the four months before it, according to Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor, spokesperson of the Philippine National Police”. 3
Earlier Philippine Star reported that “eight more suspected drug pushers were killed in separate incidents over the weekend, further increasing the number of drug-related deaths to 42 following the May 9 elections.”
“…The numbers have spiked this month as outgoing Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is preparing for his inauguration on June 30 as the 16th president of the republic.” 4
Philippine Star also expressed that “nearly half of the recorded deaths in police anti-drug operations between Jan. 1 and June 15 this year happened after the May 9 elections when a presidential candidate known for his uncompromising style of fighting drug pushers and syndicates was emerging as the clear winner in the polls.” 5
The power of Duterte to command obedience is so strong that even before he becomes President so many changes are happening already.
The management style of Duterte
This proves one thing that leadership is by symbolism. The power of tough words backed up by a solid political will works well for us Filipinos. We are the kind of people who needs a leader who can get things done, firmly and quickly. Duterte is that kind of leader, a very seasoned executive capable of getting things done. As I described him in my previous article “The heavy hand linked to a big heart, the hammer of iron wrapped in velvet, the “Punisher” who is after those against social justice and the common good” 6
Change is coming very soon!
Beware criminals and corrupt politicians your days are numbered.
Citations:
- Glenn, Paul J. (1933) Criteriology: A Class Manual in Major Logic. Binghampton & New York. B. Herder Book Co. p.124-125
- Office of the President of the Philippines. The Executive Branch. Retrieved from http://www.gov.ph/about/gov/exec/
- Uy, Jocelyn R. (2016, June 21) CBCP tells lawmen to respect rule of law. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/791559/cbcp-tells-lawmen-to-respect-rule-of-law
- Non, Alquitran (2016, June 20). 8 more drug suspects slain. The Philippine Star. Retrieved from http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/20/1594768/8-more-drug-suspects-slain
- Felipe, Cecile S. (2016, June 19). Drugs arrest, killings up. The Philippine Star. Retrieved from http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/19/1594434/drug-arrests-killings
- De Leon, Carlo F. (2016, May 14). Duterte, social justice and the church. Manila Times. Retrieved from http://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-social-justice-and-the-church/261888/
[Photo source: Jennifer Chase.]
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The latter speculation is highly, and likely the driving reason. Too many cabins will be derailed.
analyze the case of navy lt. col. Marcelino, is he a free man??? he’s safer in jail. it was published in the newspapers after he was apprehended the first one he called is sec. Ochoa. why?
dead man tells no tales.
Am I the only one who doesn’t see anything wrong whenever I hear about criminals getting killed in a gunfight with the police?
Whenever I hear this, to my mind, it only means that police were sent to arrest/investigate and some suspect or someone resisted. They died. Some would argue that if they didn’t resist, they’d still be alive. But it seems that some groups are arguing that “if the police were never sent there in the first place, they’d still be alive”. People, please check yout priorities. I for one would like to read about policemen doing their jobs and not getting killed for it.
That’s their job in the first place. Those who oppose tend to support the criminals, are unsympathetic, or just plain stupid.
Duterte’s instruction is clear, “Arrest and capture these criminals and if they resist violently (gunfight/knife), and if you think your life will be in danger, then shoot! and shoot them dead!”
And those who resist a lawful arrest deserve death.
Those who live by the sword, die by it.
Why Blame Duterte? That’s what the media does to influence public opinion. The same thing happens in other countries. The dronish sheeple will believe it.
on last hurrah by the yellow media before lights out!
One might think.
Why are the killings of the drug pushers and drug lords just now before the new president comes in?
is it that they are killing them just to cover some one else’s track? or they are killing them so that they cannot trace or its much harder for the incoming president to trace the much bigger and larger fish?
Actually, its not that complicated. Think pinoy, man! Pakitang gilas tawag diyan.
About criminality:
oh well, i think i’ll include “burglars ng sampayan” as criminals as well. 3 of my trousers, a long sleeves and a running short were stolen from our sampayan just last night. shit!
i’ll have their head severed from their necks. bwahaha!
Filipinos lack discipline. Police and politicians are corrupt; because we have Aquino ineffective leadership. Aquino does not even lead. He follows, people. Or , just let problems take care of themselves.
However, Aquino has the YellowTard Media; in the form of: TV networks; newspapers; Social Media; etc…to claim, Aquino is doing something, for the problems. These YellowTard Media rationalize his incompetence; his stupid behaviors; and covers his mistakes.
The YellowTard Media also demonizes his political enemies. Plan B, is now working to demonize, Pres. elect Duterte. This is the reason, Aquino ordered the electoral fraud, to elect , Leni Rob redo as Vice President. And, Porky Drilon, as the number one Senator.
All is done, because Aquino want to save his Hacienda Luisita, from Land Reform.
The chains that keep you bound to the past are not the actions of another person. They are your own anger, stubbornness, lack of compassion, jealousy and blaming others for your choices. It is not other people that keep you trapped; it is the entitled role of victim that you enjoy wearing. There is a familiarness to pain that you enjoy because you get a payoff from it. When you figure out what that payoff is then you will finally be on the road to freedom.
I really don’t get it. This country is becoming more barbaric than before. I mean does the police even know what the word neutralized is? There’s a reason why the police officers carry small firearms, it is primarily used to protect to be defensive.
When capturing criminals the best of the best can neutralized a heavily armed criminal using only a pistol. Otherwise you just send in the marines or SWAT team. But judging their performance over a hostage crisis years before, they need to go back to school. Just saying.
Incompetence is SOP here. It is taught at school, so there’s no point sending the police back there.
I can’t quite tell what the author is actually saying. At the beginning he’s apparently telling us all that we’re imagining things: the police can’t possibly be out there shooting at (carefully selected) criminals because Duterte hasn’t taken office.
In the next paragraph he confirms that they ARE out there shooting at said carefully selected criminals, without any official instructions, and that this is a good thing because Change Is Coming(TM).
Change is not coming, of course, because little Filipino kids are still being taught to do dysfunctional Filipino things in school, while shouting Pinoy Pride! (or Change is Coming!) in between screwups. Positive change starts with smart young people, not crooked middle-aged men with guns.
I was just listening pd30’s speech and he seems to be an expert on what’s going on with the corrupt media and the police.
It’s about time we have such a leader who can deal with plague.