President Rodrigo Duterte
with his police and military officers. Photo:
Inquirer photo
(Note: The following article came out in the Inquirer
barely 3 1/2 months after Rodrigo Duterte sat in office as President of
the Philippines. The author had immediately intuitively sensed that
something was terribly wrong about this man who would lead the country
for the next six years. Given the recent attacks of Duterte
against Catholics and the Catholic Church, the author feels his article
is just as relevant today.)
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world’s good and decent people should force President Rodrigo Duterte to
resign. It’s also for his own good. I don’t hate Duterte. But I hate his
terrible sins. For his own sake, I hope that he amends his ways and
saves his soul as his days are numbered. No one is beyond redemption if
he turns to our Lord Jesus Christ.
A terrible dark evil presence now engulfs the Philippines. We have a
leader who is not leading our people to a better life. But a leader full
of demons who brings death and sufferings to so many – and expresses
vicious hostility to world leaders and other nations.
As human beings, our most important priority is to reach our highest
spiritual potential and save our immortal souls. For what indeed does it
profit a man to gain the whole world but suffer the loss of his soul.
This involves obeying God’s command to sincerely love Him above
everything else — meaning an absolute commitment to the truth and to
what is right and good. It also involves following God’s command to love
our neighbors as ourselves. This is what our existence is all about.
But our egos, fear, greed, anger, sensual appetites, love for money and
power – often blind us from listening to God and obeying His
commandments. And for those who do not really believe in God including
many who go to church simply out of superstition or fear of bad things
happening to them if they do not — these commandments are meaningless.
As such, we have terrible demonic human beings with dark spirits on this
planet. They murder, torture, steal and do all kinds of evil acts.
From the first man to the last, the history of the world has to do with
the unending conflict between good and evil.
How is it that discredited leaders like Stalin, Hitler, Marcos, Mugabe,
etc. are able to rise and even thrive for long periods of time and have
so many people supporting and serving them?
How is it that the Philippines, which is supposedly a Catholic country,
now has so many people supporting extra-judicial killings (EJK) as an instrument of
national policy? And why do they support a leader who expresses so much
hatred and disrespect against other human beings, against other nations
and even against God — with darkness and hatred repeatedly spewing out of his foul mouth?
Duterte is no different from other tyrants in proclaiming his love for
country. Tyrants justify their evil actions by saying that the people
whom they oppress, torture and murder deserve these. Love, for one’s
country is essentially love for one’s fellowmen. Duterte’s alleged coercing,
brutalizing and murdering of so many Filipinos clearly exposes his
insincerity.
What’s happening in the Philippines?
Hitler did horrible things, but the German people cheered and idolized
him. He cleaned the streets and made the trains run on time while he
slaughtered his enemies, millions of innocent Jews, Gypsies, and
homosexuals.
The German people who were mostly Christian Protestants and Catholics
closed their eyes to these mass murders refusing to see the terrible
evil involved and even insisting that Hitler was doing a good thing
because he was supposedly eliminating those who were the cause of all of
their country’s troubles and that these people needed to be eliminated.
Hitler fueled intense nationalism and a sense of pride and so many
Germans supported him.
The same thing is now happening in the Philippines. Political
manipulation backed by force in the guise of seeking a desired good is
now a darkness that engulfs the whole nation.
Many politicized Filipinos, tired of the mass poverty, corruption and
crime are mesmerized by Duterte’s siren calls for peace and order and
constant calls for the summary killings of drug addicts, drug dealers
and criminals. But they fail to heed God’s commands when it comes to
their politics. Forget human rights, forget the sanctity of life, forget
due process rights provided by the Constitution to prove one’s innocence
— forget God’s commands to love Him and our neighbors as ourselves. A
madness fueled by the thirst for blood now reigns in the Philippines.
Duterte is like a vampire who victimizes Philippine society and has
converted many Filipinos to also now lust for blood.
With their politicization, many have forgotten that they are Catholics
and Christians. They have stifled and silenced the sacred voice within
them that tells them that using mass murder as an instrument of national
policy is an abhorrent monstrosity that cries out to heaven for justice.
A mass murderer can never be on the side of God whose command is “Thou
shalt not kill (murder).”
Like Marcos, Duterte brings out the worst in people. Not surprisingly,
the politicians and others who were with Marcos are now with him. They
support, endorse and cover up his murdering ways.
People’s fear of being victims to the violence of this tyrant and his
killers cause them to be on his side much like many Germans during
Hitler’s time. They close their eyes and praise him and cooperate with
his evil instead of condemning and fighting against his darkness, to
soothe their internal pain of shutting the truth and the internal
anguish of their own moral cowardice. They too are in great danger of
losing their immortal souls.
So many innocent lives are now being snuffed out and their families
suffer so much. Life is sacred and from God. The right to be alive is
the most basic human right. The evil of drugs cannot be fought with a
greater evil. Mass murder as a state policy is worse than drugs.
Duterte’s constant campaign and promotion of the culture of death among
policemen and among our military people–offering financial rewards and
promotions for them to murder fellow Filipinos–reveal much of his evil.
Well-meaning men and women of good will can no longer wait and must now
fight this terrible violence and the promotion of the culture of death
that Duterte is promoting and inflicting on the Filipino people, as more
innocent people will be killed or hurt by him if they do not. Filipinos
need to summon courage from within and speak out and act against the
brutality and insanity of the present situation.
I and other journalists receive a continuous barrage of “putang-ina”
curses and threats from Duterte trolls. These escalated when I called
for the resignation of Duterte in an ABS-CBN TV interview after his
repeated dirty mouth crude insults and tirades against world leaders and
other nations and the continuously increasing everyday extrajudicial
killings in the Philippines.
Even if the murder victims are supposedly drug dealers, addicts or
criminals — they are human beings with the basic human right to prove
their innocence — and not simply executed like stray dogs by the police
or private Duterte organized killers at their discretion. Many drug
addicts and even drug dealers have been rehabilitated and turned out
later to be productive decent human beings. Anthony Bourdain and Robert
Downey Jr. are among many former addicts who recovered.
Respect for the lives of human beings and their right to prove their
innocence are universally recognized values which every decent human
being should respect. It is an inherent part of God’s command to love
one’s neighbor as ourselves. Love of God and neighbor also includes
forgiving our fellowmen when they err and help when they need it. People
can change for the better.
Duterte appears not believe in forgiveness and that people can change. So
he exterminates them.
Murderous individual police elements and organized private so called
vigilante killers now have practically a blanket authority to kill at
their discretion – even if government spokesmen may give lip service to
the rule of law. On record, more than 3,500 people have already been
killed including many innocents who would still have been alive today if
Duterte had not become president. Off record, much more have been
killed. And more will be killed. This abuse of power is a terrible crime
not only against the Filipino people but against humanity.
If this state sponsored killing spree continuous and good hearted
well-meaning Filipinos just passively and silently accept this
situation, it means that nobody will be safe from being murdered anytime
by the police or by anybody. Just label the dead victim as a criminal, a
drug addict, a drug dealer and this everyday occurrence becomes a part
of the norm. This terrible culture of death will destroy the fabric of
Philippine society. Friends and families will be turning on each other.
Corrupt policemen will also use their now terrible unbridled power to
extort money from innocent victims accusing them of being drug addicts
or dealers, which was recently done to an Australian and fortunately
CCTV camera videotapes showed that he was innocent.
Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon, President Barack
Obama, all the heads of the European Union and other world leaders have
been made aware of the daily rampant killings in the Philippines. As
part of the human family, they are disturbed by the mass murders and are
aware of the kind of terrible terror in Philippine society that this
would lead to. In good faith, they are trying to help Filipinos and have
tried to influence Duterte to stop these killings.
Duterte’s response to leaders in the international community critics is
to insult them with vulgar slurs against their mothers or call them
fools and for them not to interfere in Philippine affairs. He has not
spared even the Pope with his dirty mouth calling him the son of a whore
during his Philippine visit.
In a speech, he stated that like Hitler who murdered millions of Jews,
he also wants to slaughter millions of Filipinos who are drug addicts.
He later apologized to the Jews who were much offended by his
statements, but many Jews doubt his sincerity. Duterte’s remarks
regarding his insensitivity to the Holocaust will have lasting
consequences.
The state of Israel and Jews all over the world recognize a debt of
gratitude to the Filipino people for saving over a thousand Jews from
Hitler’s crematories and giving them refuge in the Philippines.
Filipinos are viewed by Jews with respect and affection. Filipinos all
over the world are liked and respected. The Jews and other nationalities
will help in the Filipino people’s struggle against the present tyranny
and moral depravity of Duterte. His evil ways are not the ways of good
decent people.
It is the moral obligation of the Catholic Church and other Christian
churches and all sincere genuine Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and all
good human beings to protest and fight against the violence and fear
that Duterte has inflicted and will continue to inflict on the Filipino
people. To remain silent in the face of pure evil is tantamount to
supporting and abetting that evil.
Edgar Matobato, a former member of Duterte’s Davao Death Squad, just
recently gave a chilling but very credible detailed testimony in the
Philippine Senate on how they killed over a thousand victims upon orders
of Duterte. He even named some of the victims and detailed how and where
they were killed. He also testified that Duterte’s son, Davao Vice Mayor
Paolo Duterte – is a drug user who also ordered some of the killings
including that of Richard King, a wealthy owner of hotels who was
Paolo’s rival over a woman.
Even if the Senators and sycophantic journalists allied with Duterte
tried their best to discredit and silence Matobato, millions who heard
and saw this courageous man – believed him more than they believed the
Senators who were obviously covering up for Duterte. Matobato’s
description of the mode of operation of Duterte’s Davao Death Squad is
consistent with the report of Fr. Amado Picardal of the Catholic
Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines.
All good men and women should push for Duterte’s immediate resignation.
But be prepared to be labeled and maybe even falsely charged as traitors
and subversives. In the end, our commitment to God’s truth and genuine
concern and love for our fellowmen will bear much fruit.
If 16 million Filipinos voted for Duterte, 25 million did not. Of the 16
million, so many have now realized that they voted for a monster and
regret their vote. His present popularity is an illusion – which will
quickly vanish like smoke when more people suffer because of his
unpredictable depravity. The economy will spiral downward as investors
are fast exiting. More poverty and hunger will take place.
Even former President Fidel Ramos who supported Duterte’s candidacy
sincerely believing that he would do good – now express deep honest
concerns about Duterte’s murderous drug campaign and lack of policies
that really improve people’s lives. Ramos found his True Self when he
went against Marcos and have become a true patriot since then. Within a
very short time, Ramos will inevitably come to the conclusion that his
loyalty to Duterte ends where his loyalty to God and country begins.
The many good hearted decent Filipinos who want Duterte removed from
office are not without support in this fight between good and evil. The
whole civilized world is with us in this noble endeavor. Filipinos will
soon realize that their worst enemy and the worst criminal in the
Philippines is Duterte himself.
Let us fight evil with prayers to our Lord Jesus Christ and to our
Blessed Mother – and with every other moral justifiable means available
to us. Filipinos have fought long and hard for their freedom and
dignity. We cannot now allow one man who serves the forces of evil – to
take control of our lives and the nation.
Because I am a Catholic, a human being, a Filipino American and a global
citizen involved in creating a better world, I have expressed my
thoughts and feelings that concern the well-being and future of all
Filipinos – including Duterte himself. His soul needs salvation.
For those with the same thoughts – please air these viewpoints far and
wide and ask recipients to do the same. Thank you.
Republished 6/14/2018
Ted Laguatan is a human rights lawyer based in the San
Francisco area. He is one of less than 30 U.S. lawyers officially
certified continuously for more than 25 years by the California State
Bar as an Expert-Specialist in Immigration Law. Tel 650 634 8668 Email
laguatanlaw@gmail.com. |