Enrile: Duterte’s drug war not legitimate policy
As far as centenarian Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile is concerned, the bloody war on illegal drugs of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte was not a legitimate law enforcement policy.
In a Facebook post on Saturday afternoon, Enrile, who turns 101 on Feb. 14, noted that many of Duterte’s followers are “advocates and supporters of strong-arm style of government.”
“They think that the [Duterte] drug war was a legitimate law enforcement policy. It was not. The antidrug law did not, to my recollection, authorize killing suspected people with impunity,” he said.
He pointed out that “no Congress, under our constitutional law, ever authorized summary killings of suspected people” and the 1987 Constitution “abhors the death penalty.”
“Even criminals caught red-handed are not authorized by law to be killed summarily, unless they resisted with violence. Police power in this country is not licensed to kill suspected people with impunity. Police power is generally controlled by law and due process,” Enrile added.
Last year, Duterte, the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on alleged crimes against humanity, faced hearings in both chambers of Congress where he admitted to ordering policemen to coax drug suspects to fight back so that they can be killed.
Duterte also dared the ICC to hurry up its investigation before he dies of old age.
In his Facebook post, Enrile pointed to a Nov. 20, 2015, meeting of Duterte, author Earl Parreño, lawyer and author Levi Baligod, Patmei Ruivivar and Gongie Galenzoga at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City, during which they talked about the country’s problem with illegal drugs.
He quoted Parreño narrating the meeting in his 2019 book “Beyond Will and Power.”
“‘Kadaghan diay. Limang libo lang ang patayin natin. First six months,” he said. Again we laughed. (That’s a lot. Let’s just kill 5,000 in the first six months).
‘Marami pa rin ‘yan, Mayor. Sino ang papatay sa kanila?’ I asked. (That’s still a lot, Mayor. Who will do the killing?)
‘Ang mga pulis (the police),’ he quickly replied.
‘Kung dili ang mga pulis?’ I pressed on, shifting to Cebuano. (What if the police won’t do the job?)
‘Sila atong patyon,’ again, conveying with his eyes a child-like naughtiness. (Well, let’s kill the police). And all the more we laughed.”
Enrile continued: “So, I ask you, Sir, with due respect, whether the underlined words on pages 21 and 22 of [lawyer] Earl Parreño’s book, ‘Beyond Will & Power,’ are the bases, backdrop and underpinnings of your presidential policy of war on drugs, or were they merely your jokes? If they were merely your jokes, what then, Sir, again with due respect, were the rational or raison d’ etre of your war on drugs?”
Enrile stressed in Duterte’s oath of office, Duterte promised to “faithfully and conscientiously fulfill” his duties, “preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the nation.”
