Duterte and his wars against the “disobedient” (and how he now puts those who do not get vaccinated in check)

A new controversy is added to the government of Rodrigo Duterte. The president of Philippines It has just authorized that people who have not been vaccinated against the COVID-19 coronavirus will not be able to go out on pain of arrest.

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“If they refuse and leave their homes […] they can be stopped. And if they refuse […] [las fuerzas del orden] are empowered to stop the recalcitrant“, Held.

Duterte He had already warned that he would take this action. In July of last year he argued that, although there was no law that supported “such a restriction“, He was willing to”face demands”.

“As for me, they can die at any time“, He said then about those reluctant to get vaccinated, whom he accused of throwing the”virus left and right”.

Before, the president had also arranged the arrest of people who did not use masks well, and had spoken out on the disobedience of the unvaccinated. “If they don’t want to, I’ll have them arrested and then inject the vaccine into their buttocks.“, Held.

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“You decide, get the vaccine or I’ll put you in prison”.

And, of course, it cannot be forgotten that, in 2020, asked to the forces of order that opened fire on those who generated disorder in the confined areas.

It is an unorthodox response (and very much in the style of the authoritarian ruler) that responds to a complicated reality. In Philippines, as you know, less than half of the population is immunized, while the figures indicate that 2.9 million people have been infected and 52 thousand died.

The war on drugs

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Rodrigo Duterte He promised a strong hand and has delivered. His past was the best proof of his style: he was mayor of Dávo for 22 years and managed to make it one of the safest in Philippines.

“Or so at least he assures, as other statistics indicate that Dávao is still at the top of the insecurity ranking”Writes the BBC.

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According to human rights groups, any progress on this issue would be questionable since “If the crime figures were drastically reduced, it was due to the action of” death squads, “that would have killed thousands of suspected criminals in the 1990s″.

“These groups would have had the support of the mayor, something that the president denied on some occasions and of which he has boasted on other occasions.”.

Still, it’s funny how Duterte he knew how to maintain popular approval. Towards the end of 2016, a 76% of adults they approved his management, even though his war on drugs had “caused more than 3,500 deaths in police operations and extrajudicial executions”.

What is your war about?

El Mercurio says that, since he became president in 2016, Duterte “sent thousands of security personnel to the streets and promoted the generation of paramilitary groups in the most remote areas”.

The order: “prosecute and punish any activity related to drug trafficking -including consumption- even if there is only a suspicion of it”.

By January 2019, the deaths from these operations totaled 4,848. Nowadays, the figure exceeds 6,200 people.

To continue deterring criminals, Duterte has bet unsuccessfully, since 2017, on reinstate the death penalty. According International Amnesty, this measure “It will only worsen the climate of impunity in the country in the context of the deadly government campaign against drugs”.

To eliminate any hint of questions against his measures, Duterte, in 2017, ordered to stop the war on drugs and clean up public institutions, such as the anti-narcotics unit.

Slaps for naysayers

No matter where the criticism comes from, Duterte does not tremble. On the contrary, he becomes emboldened.

“So much so that, at the beginning of 2018, the president even threatened to ‘slap’ the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard”, Writes El Mercurio.

“And in December he called on his followers to kill the Catholic bishops as “useless.” In both cases, as a result of the criticism they had issued against their bloody anti-drug operation”.

When the International Criminal Court of Justice She opened a lawsuit for the mass murders she would have orchestrated when she was mayor of Dávao, he chose to expel her from the country.

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“There seems to be a concerted effort by UN special rapporteurs to portray me as a cruel and ruthless human rights violator who has allegedly ordered thousands of extrajudicial executions.”.

In September of last year, the ICC authorized an investigation. Y Duterte He replied that he was already preparing his defense.

And, since nothing seems to affect him, in 2018, he proposed creating an armed civil group to fight against the New People’s Army, a communist guerrilla born in the 1960s.

The BBC recalls:

“The president of Philippines affirmed that the militia that he intends to create will have powers to kill suspected revolutionaries, drug addicts and even people who wander aimlessly through the streets and will be called ‘Squad of the Death of Duterte’”.

All these actions have generated the dutertian paradox, as the EFE agency explains. What do you mean? By early 2020, Duterte had at 82% of the Filipino population satisfied, según Social Weather Station.

But the study also showed that his policies were not well accepted. Write EFE:

“93% of Filipinos repudiate the passive stance of Duterte in its territorial dispute with the ‘Asian giant’ in the South China Sea; while 76% reject the human rights violations and the bloodbath of its anti-drug campaign, which has killed some 30,000 people according to humanitarian organizations”.

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The dream of total control

No one can say that the attitude of Rodrigo Duterte it’s a surprise. His most unfortunate phrases and his most controversial ideas abound. “El País” compiled some of them:

“When I am president I will give orders to the police and the army to search for these people and kill them all”.

“Forget human rights”.

“I will butcher criminals in front of you if you wish”.

“I’d kill my own kids if they were junkies”.

“Could be killed [los representantes de la ONU en Filipinas] if they block efforts to improve the country”.

“[Es un] motherfucker [en relación a los atascos vehiculares que genero el papa Francisco cuando visitó el país]. I am a Christian, but also a realist, we have an overpopulation problem”.

“Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million addicts here. I would like to massacre them all”.

But perhaps the most revealing about his view of the world is the one collected by the Semana portal when, in June 2021, he spoke about those who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

“There is a crisis in this country. I am desperate that the Filipinos will not pay attention to the government”.

“Choose: the vaccine or jail”.

Duterte He seeks total control and, to achieve it, he is willing to do anything.

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