Presented By:
Presented To:
I. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………… 1
V. References ………………………………………………………………………...10
I
INTRODUCTION
On May 9, 2016, Rodrigo Roa Duterte was elected president of the Republic of the
Philippines. Amassing thirty-nine percent of the total votes cast, the former mayor of
Davao city now holds one of the most, if not the most, essential seat in the Philippine
government.
Some of the notable accomplishments of the Duterte Administration are the passage
of the Bangsamoro Basic law, the passage of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and
Inclusion law which would support the administration’s “Build Build Build Program” and
environmental programs which would develop the country’s natural resources without
However, during his campaign, one of the most noteworthy and controversial
promise is his vow to end the Philippines’ drug problem. He vowed to kill every single
drug users and dealers in the country. Upon his election, “the war on drugs” was
immediately implemented which in turn sparked not only the interest and opposition of his
critics, but also those of various human rights organizations. According to the Philippine
Drug Enforcement Agency, 4,948 suspected drug users and dealers were killed during this
war dated from July 2016 to September 2018. This number does not include those killed
and identified as drug dealers by unknown gunmen also known as extrajudicial killings.
The exact number of deaths still cannot be ascertained because such information were
considered as classified information by the government and the release of the same would
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Duterte’s war on drug has become the centerpiece of the administration. The
operation was named “Oplan Tokhang”. The campaign has taken the lives of drug
protectors, users, pushers and also caused the seizure and destruction of numerous drug
facilities and equipment. Beyond all the violence, the campaign also established drug
rehabilitation facilities for those thousands who voluntarily submitted themselves over to
the authorities.
Its purpose is indeed noble, the elimination of illegal drugs in the Philippines, but
the execution of the operation has brought fear and unease even to those who are innocent.
II
Related Literature
This chapter presents the articles and literatures related to the present position paper.
These gave the author of this paper a broader perspective which aid him in coming up with
guidelines for the implementation of Oplan Tokhang projects. The new guidelines
The instruction manual may be broken down into three stages. First stage is “Pre-
tokhang” or the creation, updating of the drug watchlist. Under the new rules, only names
validated by the PNP's Directorate for Intelligence can be added to the list. Names not
validated should be queued for further validation. The tokhang teams shall also be
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subjected to specialized training specifically for drug operations. Aside from the tactical
squad, there should also be a PNP Human Rights Office representative present in the squad.
Second stage is the “tokhang stage” or during the operation itself. The squad should
first knock on the drug suspects’ homes then ask them to surrender. The team cannot enter
a house without the owner’s permission and the officers are encouraged to wear body
cameras for the documentation of the operation. If the person surrender, the same shall be
referred to the nearest barangay hall, ADAC office, or police station for documentation.
Should the suspect intend to be rehabilitated, he shall be referred to the local government
unit or to any concerned agency. However, if the suspect refuses to surrender, Tokhang
teams are tasked to alert local drug enforcement units, who will then begin a case buildup
that may lead to another anti-drug operation. The operation is conducted only from
regional police higher-ups for consolidation. If any of the procedures are not followed,
Tokhangers and their station commanders, and possibly even regional police chiefs, would
be punished. The new guidelines emphasize command responsibility – the idea that the
fault of subordinates can be traced to the negligence of their leader. Also, the new rules set
up a “one strike policy rule” to weed out negligent and corrupt officers of the PNP.
the United States since the 1970s to combat illegal drug use by greatly increasing penalties,
enforcement, and incarceration for drug offenders. The War on Drugs began in June 1971
when U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon declared drug abuse to be “public enemy number one” and
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increased federal funding for drug-control agencies and drug-treatment efforts. In 1973 the
Drug Enforcement Agency was created out of the merger of the Office for Drug Abuse
Law Enforcement, the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and the Office of
efforts until the presidency of Ronald Reagan, which began in 1981. Reagan greatly
expanded the reach of the drug war and his focus on criminal punishment over treatment
led to a massive increase in incarcerations for nonviolent drug offenses, from 50,000 in
1980 to 400,000 in 1997. In 1984 his wife, Nancy, spearheaded another facet of the War
on Drugs with her “Just Say No” campaign, which was a privately funded effort to educate
match for chemical addictions, however, and study after study showed that programs such
results. And while the Bush administration's 2002 goal of reducing all illegal drug use by
25% led to unprecedented numbers of marijuana-related arrests, pot use only declined 6%
(and the use of other drugs actually increased). Drug trends tend to wax and wane, and a
dip in the use of one type of drug might lead to a rise in another, causing officials to play
Calderón declared open season on drug cartels just days after being sworn into office in
2006 when he sent 6,500 troops to quash a rash of execution-style killings between two
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rival drug gangs. The following year, Calderón's public security minister Genaro Garcia
Luna removed 284 federal police commissioners — all suspected of corruption — and
replaced them with a hand-selected group of officers who successfully arrested several
drug kingpins. The gangs have responded with what seems to be an endless stream of
violence; 5,300 people were killed in drug-related crimes in 2008 and over 1,000 have
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Report (2012), among all the countries in East Asia,
the Philippines had the highest rate of methamphetamine abuse. Estimates showed that
about 2.2 percent of Filipinos between the ages of sixteen and sixty-four were using
methamphetamines, and that methamphetamines and marijuana were the primary drugs of
choice. In 2015, the national drug enforcement agency reported that one fifth of the
barangays, the smallest administrative division in the Philippines, had evidence of drug use,
drug trafficking, or drug manufacturing; in Manila, the capital, 92 percent of the barangays
The only question left to answer is “whether the effects of drugs would warrant the
killing of drug dealers or users”. As stated by Dr. Des Corrigan in his essay, “Physical
Impact of Drugs, Misuse and Abuse” (1995) , drug addiction defined as the continuous
provides and to further avoid the symptoms of discomfort in its absence. However, it
should be noted that addiction is not merely limited to dangerous drugs; addiction can take
on various forms other than dependence on addictive narcotics. It can be inferred that an
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individual who has fallen to addiction will more or less find extreme difficulty in
addressing the problem that has arisen from continued use of these addictive substances;
being able to break free from the cycle of addiction is not a task easily attainable especially
considering that the brain itself is afflicted. The body of the afflicted is effectively
Among Young Recruits (2005)” written by Marian Jêdrzejczak Ph.D as part of Military
Medicine, the emergence of drug addiction that has to do with familial and
community background has three (3) primary factors: (1) The effect of pathological
families on an individual’s behavior at a young age and eventual influence unto adulthood;
the term “pathological family” refers to a family with parents who suffer from mental
illness and/or alcoholism that commonly leads to an abusive parent-child relationship. (2)
The availability of easy to access drugs; addiction commonly starts at the first instance of
aforementioned drugs are easy to access primarily due to the community environment that
a person is subjected to. (3) The influence of people of the same age group and culture;
peers are a common factor to influencing individuals to take up certain habits, as humans
are beings that seek out social interaction and to gain peer approval.
III
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Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings regardless of nationality, place
of residence, sex, color religion language or any other status. Humans are equally all
entitled to such rights without discrimination. These right are all interrelated,
the Section 1 Article III of the1987 Constitution, to wit: “No person shall be deprived of
life, liberty, and property without due process of law nor shall any person be denied the
equal protection of the laws”. In Secretary v. Manalo, it has been held that extralegal
killings are “killings committed without due process of law, i.e., without safeguards or
judicial proceedings.” Thus extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances are blatant
violation of the constitutional rights to life, liberty and property. In his statement, President
Duterte encouraged the public to kill those involved in drug crimes which in turn prompted
vigilantes and unknown gunmen to take matters of law into their own hands.
To allow extralegal killings would deprive an accused drug user or pusher his right
to be heard and have his day to court. The vow to eradicate illegal drugs has produced
various problems. Not only the problematic murderous operations but also overcrowding
of jails, and the harassment and prosecution of drug war critics has caused a steep decline
in respect for basic rights since Duterte’s inauguration on June 30, 2016.
accomplishments done within the past years. One of which is the “internal cleansing”
which is aimed to dismiss public officials who are directly involved in illegal drugs. “316
law enforcers were dismissed from the service for drug use, while 145 were removed for
other drug-related offences. In addition, 292 government employees, 262 elected officials
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and 67 uniformed personnel were arrested in anti-drug operations.” A special police unit,
was formed to go after erring law-enforcers. Jail guards were also replaced after finding
out that jails or prisons cells are being used as facilities for drug operations.
between the private interest of a citizen and the public interest, the latter should be
protected. President Duterte has labeled the drug war as “a fight to preserve peace and order
and a crusade to save the country’s youth against illegal drugs”. The Philippines is not the
only country who has waged war against illegal drugs. Many of the Philippines’ neighbour,
including Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, and Singapore, have waged onslaughts to
exterminate drugs and impose the death penalty for drug-related crimes.
more liberal way to face the drug situation. Croatia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Argentina, Uruguay,
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said that the results of Portugal’s
policies included a decrease in the number of drug-related problems. From 44% in 1999,
the percentage imprisoned in Portugal for drug law violation decreased to 24% in 2013.
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In view of the foregoing there are still questions left unanswered: Are the
extrajudicial killings justified? Should the administration be held liable for these deaths?
IV
Conclusion
In light of what has been said, the drug war is still a viable option to end or eradicate
the illegal drugs problem of the Philippines. However, there should be proper safeguards
to avoid offending constitutional right of the accused and the due process clause of the
1987 Constitution.
The war against criminality should not be a war against the human rights of every
person. The government, as parens patriae of the citizens, should promulgate measures to
maintain public order without compromising basic human rights of those who they vow to
protect. Fighting drugs and criminality should go hand in hand with the observance of the
substantive and procedural due process of the constitution. It should not even be a war at
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte encouraged the public to “go ahead and kill” drug
addicts. Such statement has been widely understood as the grant to kill those involved in
drug crimes. There are no trials, so there is no evidence that the people being killed are in
fact guilty of drug crimes. The system is indeed fallible. These series of killings in the
country is in contravention of the supreme law of the land, the Philippine Constitution. It
is ironic that the very official who is in charge of the faithful implementation of the law
would be the one who would encourage the violation of the same.
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Basic is the rule that every person should first be heard before the fall of the hammer.
The right to life is not just inherent but also right that needs the utmost protection from the
government.
IV
References
The above opinions and statements are based and grounded form the following links
and articles:
1. https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145004-drugs-best-practices-countries
2. https://www.topteny.com/top-10-countries-drugs-legal/
3. https://www.mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-all-
drugs-here-s-what-s-happening
4. https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/20/human-rights-consequences-war-drugs-
philippines
5. https://www.cfr.org/interview/human-rights-and-dutertes-war-drugs
6. https://www.equaltimes.org/the-war-on-drugs-is-ineffective#.XanR9pMRe_U
7. https://amp.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2187144/other-side-
dutertes-war-drugs-rehabilitation-rescue-and
8. Britannica.com
11. https://www.maximumyield.com/definition/4833/war-on-drugs
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