Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jul 2016
Source: Sun.Star Baguio (Philippines)
Copyright: 2016, Sunstar
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bag/2005/02/27/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1942

SLEEPING SICKNESS

VIOLENCE would breed violence," warns Sen. Leila de Lima, who 
recently called for a Senate inquiry into the summary killings of 
alleged drug pushers and pushers.

There is no official count of the death toll in the war against 
drugs, pointed out the former justice secretary and former chair of 
the Commission on Human Rights.

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Group's "Kill List" 
(http://inq.news/kill-list), the body count, as of noon of July 7, 
stood at 72 killed since June 30: 43 shot while "resisting" during 
police operations, and 29 whose bodies were found after their 
vigilante-style executions.

The Kill List begins on June 30, when President Rodrigo Duterte 
assumed office. An average of 10 was killed every day during the 
first week of the Duterte administration (June 30July 7). If the Kill 
List went back as early as May 9, Election Day, the tally would stand 
at 119 drug-related killings.

For many citizens, frustrated by the pervasiveness of crime and the 
ineptness of authorities to uphold peace and order, there is 
vindication in the daily spectacles of criminals surrendering or 
ending up as bodies and crime statistics.

For others, the summary killings are "too contrived" and "the madness 
must stop." According to Edre Olalia, secretary-general of the 
National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL), "quick fix savagery and 
abuse of powers by law enforcers supposedly to quell criminality and 
drugs... is a Frankenstein that will haunt us over time."

Sen. De Lima has urged a Senate inquiry that will "institutionalize 
the current operational procedures" of law enforcement bodies to 
uphold human rights even in the fight against crime. De Lima warns 
that vigilantism will turn the country into a "killing fields" and a 
"really messy society."

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called out 
for a Church committed "to stand up for the moral right and resist 
the moral wrong."

A similar call was made by martial law survivor and artist Roy 
Lumagbas, after his performance before fellow artists, students and 
teachers at the University of the Philippines Cebu on June 30. 
Lumagbas, dressed in a checkered polo similar to the one worn by 
Duterte during his campaign sorties, alternated between brushing his 
teeth and issuing "kill orders" through a megaphone.

In an essay written to answer questions if his performance was 
alluding to the President's war against crime, Lumagbas wrote, "The 
performance was (also) about the rest of us... Us, who know fully 
well that the genie once released is forever out there, getting worse 
by the day. Not better. It might become normal. The new normal... But 
better? Never." Sun*Star Cebu
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom