Senator Leila de Lima on Monday expressed worry how killing has supposedly become the “solution” to the Philippines' problems, citing the thousands of deaths amid the administration's ongoing war on drugs and President Rodrigo Duterte's push for a death penalty law.
Speaking at an annual conference on cultural diplomacy in Berlin, Germany, De Lima lamented how a “self-confessed serial killer” such as Duterte has “proven true of his blood-soaked promise” in the last five months.
“Apparently, our choice is be killed in the streets, or be killed by public execution,” De Lima said after citing statistics of number of deaths and the speedy approval of a House committee on the death penalty proposal.
“That is the true horror of it all: we are fast becoming a nation where killing is seen as the solution to our problems. Not a solution; not the first or the last resort; but the solution,” she said.
De Lima, former chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ), said the Duterte administration's war on drugs however has turned out to be a “war on the poor” as big-time drug lords have so far managed to evade justice.
“Maybe it isn’t a question of how many are dying, but who are dying? Perhaps the outrage will be greater if it were prominent people who are dying, instead of the poor whose lives, by society’s measure perhaps, is already forfeit anyway?” she said.
De Lima said the gaps in income, social status, education, beliefs, among other things are exploited by authoritarian rulers, who “excel at manipulation.”
“They have been able to prey on our fears and self-interests in order to divide and conquer us,” she said.
“They prey on our feelings of marginalization and victimization, and offer themselves up as the agents of change and champions of our cause,” De Lima added.
She said what was “most disturbing” is how Duterte shapes the identity of the Filipino people, which have so far given him a “very good” performance rating.
“The absence of a roaring rejection of the occurrence of daily deaths in our streets is in itself quite disturbing,” De Lima said.
De Lima is set to return to Manila Monday night.
She said she is determined to continue the fight against the “abuses of power.”
Speaking at an annual conference on cultural diplomacy in Berlin, Germany, De Lima lamented how a “self-confessed serial killer” such as Duterte has “proven true of his blood-soaked promise” in the last five months.
“Apparently, our choice is be killed in the streets, or be killed by public execution,” De Lima said after citing statistics of number of deaths and the speedy approval of a House committee on the death penalty proposal.
“That is the true horror of it all: we are fast becoming a nation where killing is seen as the solution to our problems. Not a solution; not the first or the last resort; but the solution,” she said.
De Lima, former chair of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ), said the Duterte administration's war on drugs however has turned out to be a “war on the poor” as big-time drug lords have so far managed to evade justice.
“Maybe it isn’t a question of how many are dying, but who are dying? Perhaps the outrage will be greater if it were prominent people who are dying, instead of the poor whose lives, by society’s measure perhaps, is already forfeit anyway?” she said.
De Lima said the gaps in income, social status, education, beliefs, among other things are exploited by authoritarian rulers, who “excel at manipulation.”
“They have been able to prey on our fears and self-interests in order to divide and conquer us,” she said.
“They prey on our feelings of marginalization and victimization, and offer themselves up as the agents of change and champions of our cause,” De Lima added.
She said what was “most disturbing” is how Duterte shapes the identity of the Filipino people, which have so far given him a “very good” performance rating.
“The absence of a roaring rejection of the occurrence of daily deaths in our streets is in itself quite disturbing,” De Lima said.
De Lima is set to return to Manila Monday night.
She said she is determined to continue the fight against the “abuses of power.”
Source: gmanetwork
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