table of contents:
preface
I. cops are not like star wars stormtroopers
II. duterte is not darth vader
III. duterte's bizarre popularity
IV. EJK's are not new
V. which color is more beautiful - red or blue?
VI. effective or useless?
VII. pride: the hidden cancer
VIII. how it started - rare perfect storm
IX. rule of thumb: just listen to the smart people
X. stupidity is not obsolete
XI. great teamwork
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preface:
i hear many supposedly smart and highly educated people say duterte's leadership is a failure because there are still drugs being sold in the slums. i don't think the filipino masses really cared about drugs. before duterte, children of OFWs were being targeted by drug pushers because of the steady stream of money coming from their parents working abroad. imagine an OFW sacrificing for many years to give a better future for their child but when they come home they can't let their child in the house because their child will steal their TV to buy drugs. it's the most painful thing a human being can ever go through. but there is nothing anyone can do about it because the drug lords are the kings of their barrio due to their connections with powerful people. but because of duterte, drug dealers nowadays only sell to those actively seeking drugs. an OFW can say to the drug lord, "i'm going back to dubai to work, if i come home and find out my son is doing drugs, ipa tokhang gyud tikaw (i will have you killed extrajudicially)". the drug lord, whose status in the barrio is now like that of a cockroach because of duterte, replies, "don't worry sir, i will kill any drug dealer who sells drugs to your son". before duterte, if the very beautiful 15 year old daughter of a lowly jeepney driver is dreaming of the latest iphone but the jeepney driver cannot afford it, the daughter is in danger of being seduced by a good looking drug dealer who can give her the iphone. there is nothing the jeepney driver can do because the drug dealers are like the kings of society. but because of duterte, the drug dealers are now afraid of stepping on the jeepney driver's foot. before duterte, people were afraid to go in the slums to attend their sister's birthday party because they might be mistaken for an informant and the drug dealers might end up killing them. but because of duterte, the slums are now much safer.
I. cops are not like star wars stormtroopers
leftists always have this notion that the poor are the victims and they are helpless. i see the funerals of the extra judicial killings (EJK) in tv and i think there is an angle we are not looking at. the cops are not like star wars storm troopers. they are human beings who value their lives and they have their own families. if the EJK victim is really innocent, shouldn't we also be worried about the lives of the cops and their families? i don't think the cops can afford bodyguards for their children. if cops are doing something bad enough that would really anger the families of the victims, the cops are at a huge disadvantage. cops don't get help from darth duterte with jedi powers. cops can't guess which ones might retaliate and monitor them, but it's easy to study the movements and points of weaknesses of a single cop and plan a revenge. the only thing a cop can do is perform his/her duties with honor and pride and not worry about getting killed because sacrificing your life to protect your country is a great duty and honor. the reason we don't hear much about revenge from the victim's families is maybe the victims are not that innocent as the anti duterte propagandists claim to be.
i hate to sound callous and anarchy-ish but if it's really true the cops were evil, i won't be angry at the evil cops, i will be angry at the families and friends of the victims for not retaliating. i know that ideally, you should always go through the justice system first. although IT WAS DUTERTE WHO SAID HE USED EJKs BECAUSE OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS BROKEN. so duterte would actually support you because you are not actually killing cops, you are killing criminals and helping duterte fatten the fishes in manila bay. and i know the good cops will also be happy to see their evil comrades gone - In profanity-laden outburst, Duterte threatens to kill crooked cops
i don't want to ignore the possibility of society plunging into anarchy because of never ending cycle of retaliation and counter retaliation. but to me that would be far fetched. i believe too many filipinos value peace and prosperity. we had too many coup de etats where no one even fired a single shot. i don't think filipinos are angry ideologues or blind extremists who would just retaliate without being 100% sure what their doing is right. it's those very close to the EJK victim who will be closer to the truth and can make a better judgement.
example, if the EJK victim is your love one who stole your 52" flat screen TV, after a number of drug rehab attempts and interventions, maybe it's not worth it to retaliate because at some point down the line chances are your love one would still be killed by someone else anyway. you can also consider it as a blessing in disguise that your love one can finally rest in peace and your family can move on. actually i have a dear friend, (his facebook name is andrew gelig - but he sometimes changes his fb name so just search andrew in my list of friends. he is the only andrew but in case he also changed his first name let me know i will pm you his new name). he had a severely drug addict bother. the EJK squads kept visiting their house but would always forgive his brother. one day his dad was stabbed and killed by his drug addict brother over a petty argument.
i'm not trying to instigate or incite anything. what i'm trying to say is that if A is really happening then B would also be happening and since B is not happening maybe A is not really happening. i'm not writing this to persuade filipinos to retaliate. that would be selling the filipinos short, as if saying filipinos are too dumb to figure out for themselves. i'm simply trying to explain the possibility that the current EJK victims being sensationalized in the media are not totally innocent. because if they really are innocent, the evil cops should also be very worried about their safety and the safety of their families. otherwise, you are basically saying the filipinos are weakling cowards who can't fend for themselves. to me that's more problematic than evil cops or tyranny. besides, i know nowadays, there are so many good dedicated cops who would not hesitate to neutralize their crooked colleagues. maybe inspired by the popular tv show probinsyano.
for me, even if tyranny does not exist, it would still be a problem if the people can't defend themselves against tyranny. but even if there is tyranny, if the people have the ability to fight back, then to me it's just game on. welcome to the real world. if the people don't fight back, then as cruel as it sounds i have to say it's the people's fault. this is not paradise.
what about the borderline cases where a good honest cop can easily make a judgement mistake? i think cases like that would be rare. and correct me if i'm wrong but i think in these cases the government will offer reparations to the victim. if not, then chances are the family will understand that mistakes and accidents happen. i would. if not, that's why i have so much high respect for cops because it's a tough and dangerous job.
what i'm writing here is not a suggestion or advice on what we should be doing i'm merely trying to speculate or analyze the actual realities that the media is not telling you but are vital for you to make better political choices.
of course you could get killed if you retaliate but that's the true measure of a society - bravery and COMPETENCE !!! americans lost thousands of lives fighting the nazis. it's an honoroable thing to fight for your dignity and your fellow citizens who might be the next victims. heck, we are all gonna die anyway. why did ISIS fail in marawi? because filipinos were not afraid or too concerned with innocent lives being killed in the bombings. collateral damage was never an issue because we know that sometimes, lives need to be sacrificed to combat evil. that's why a huge majority of filipinos still support du30 even with children being caught in the cross fire.
"the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
in developed societies like america, norway, japan, etc ... cops don't harm innocent people not only because they are good cops, but also because the people are strong and smart and cannot be abused. maybe the reason why there are places where boko haram and ISIS would flourish is because the good people in those places are too incompetent to retaliate against the bad elements. if ironman goes there and wipes out all the members of ISIS and boko haram, there would be many wannabees waiting in line to take their place.
i believe filipinos are competent enough to not allow evil cops to exist. when marawi was seiged by ISIS fighters, muslims were helping christians and christians were helping muslims - these amazing displays of unity is a level of sophistication that only exists in other great cultures and societies - places were evil cops cannot flourish. unlike in the middle east where sunnis and shias are killing each other even if they are all muslims. these things are related, just like a class of a person - if a person is highly educated, chances are that person also has good manners, stronger personality, etc ...
i lived in ukraine where cops would just blatantly give traffic citations to anyone when they need money even if there's no violation. my girlfriend's brother was driving and a cop stopped us. the cop said we did an illegal left turn even if we clearly never did any turn whatsoever. the brother just gave money so we can go. then they started yammering about their corrupt president. i was so furious. i told them it's not the president's fault that cops are blatantly bleeding you dry. i told them it's your fault. at first they were shocked and insulted. then i explained to them what i'm writing here and they were impressed. after the orange revolution, i told them nothing would change as long as mafias and corrupt cops continue to plague their country which hinders investments. i think the existence of many competing corporate tyrannies is a sign of a strong and vibrant society. corporations are like sharks. existence of sharks is a sign the ecosystem is healthy or has recovered.
my ukrainian friends are academically smart people. that's when i started to realize left wing liberals are very good at acquiring knowledge but if the knowledge is not taught in schools, like what i'm writing here, then they are screwed. they are very dependent on one size fits all cookie cutter ideals and principles. fortunately, most of the things that need to be analyzed and concluded have already been concluded and written in books and taught in schools so you can be wildly successful in many fields armed with just basic logic. just brute force memorize all the knowledge. meanwhile duterte looks at every case using a pragmatic approach. that is why it's usually the ultra knowledgeable liberals who are going crazy at duterte's out of the box solution to our drug epidemic. the UN human rights council is even condemning duterte.
the dad of my high school classmate, venjie balansag, was a cop. during those times cops were being assassinated. i was worried about my dear friend and told him if he wants someone to talk to i was there for him. the fucking iglesia just laughed at me and told me he is not losing an ounce of sleep because only the abusive and corrupt cops are being gunned down and his dad is very popular and well loved among the jeepney drivers. (instead it was dandee nellas who needed moral support because both his parents, who were teachers, were in a photo of faculty members taken during the inauguration of the new library building. and the faculty members in the photo were dying one by one from strange causes. they believed it was the enchantress living in the huge acacia tree that they cut down to make way for the new library building that is responsible for the curse. i saw one afternoon they brought in like a white witch to do a ritual using a chicken as a sacrifice. this is suppose to be University of the Philippines - the forefront of science)
II. duterte is not darth vader
duterte has many powerful and rich enemies. the powerful oligarchs hate duterte and wants to bring him down. this is unlike the marcos dictatorship era where he controlled everything and all his enemies were in jail. if duterte is really guilty of murder then why is it that none of his powerful enemy is suing him? they have the connections and resources. besides, 2 of the last 3 presidents were overthrown because of much lesser crimes. that means in the philippines, it's very feasible to sue and oust the president.
III. duterte's bizarre popularity
filipinos are like - ok duterte thanks for whacking the dangerous people who might harm my 8 year old daughter walking home from school.
apparently safety and security takes precedence over religious devotion. philipppines is a very catholic country. yet when he called the pope "a son of a whore", it didn't even cause a dent or scratch to his popularity. this happened before he became president. which is a sign duterte is not some ambitious tyrant. true tyrants pretend to be saints and do everything to please and wow the people just to get elected.
lives have been ruined because of duterte's drug war. my scholars who's lives are utterly ruined because of duterte's drug war are wearing DU30 t-shirts because they are big fans of du30. THAT IS FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE !!! 2 of them just got into a fight because another scholar wore her du30 t-shirt without her permission. i told them you do know the reason why your young and handsome drug lord boyfriends can no longer support you and spoil you with iphones is because of du30, right? they said yes. they are aware of that. then i told them you do know the reason you are with an annoying disgusting old man who will only feed you seafood and vegetables is because of du30 right? they said yes. that's why they thank du30. TOINKS !!! if du30 stops his war on drugs and the drug epidemic returns, my scholars will go back to the drug lords, and i will have be happy once again because i will have more time for myself.
IV. EJK's are not new
i've witnessed way way way more EJK's as a kid. only they weren't called EJKs back then. we called it "SALVAGE". i had friends who were salvaged. when the city jail gets too overcrowded, miraculously there would be a botched mass prison escape (puga) where hundreds of escapees are gunned down. WINK !!! WINK !!! i remember the whole kangkong (spinach) field the size of a soccer field just outside the city jail. it was full of dead bodies. it was not that far from our house. i walked around looking at the dead bodies and accidentally stepped on one of bodies hidden by the kangkong plants.
way before duterte became president, since the 1990's, cebu was already known for vigilante killings (you can google it for more information). it wasn't just the cops killing the criminals but civilian volunteers as well. it did improve the peace and order situation in cebu significantly. lo and behold cebu has been the most economically vibrant city in asia in the past decade. so just imagine, why in the world would you mess with a group of people who has the guts to kill the criminals themselves?
i remember about 30 years ago the brother of a drug addict shot the friends of my uncle (tito yogin) who were supplying drugs to his brother (luckily my uncle was not present at the time of the shooting). if you live in cebu you probably know this guy well known in the drug world during that era - his name is jumbo. he was one of those who got shot which got him paralyzed from the waist down. i used to see him on a wheel chair around town and one time i saw him sitting at the doorsteps of my grandmother's motel. he was shooting heroine. last time i saw him, i think it was around 1990, was in escario street. he was piggybacking on this one eyed dude (bulhog). an interesting note is the drug dealers or their families never retaliated on the brother of the drug addict who shot and killed i think 5 of the top drug dealers in cebu at that time and wounded others. he was never prosecuted. he was a just a good guy who was pissed that his brother became a drug addict. this shows maybe it's the nature of filipinos to be understanding and accepting of EJKs even long before du30.
i remember the family of my childhood friend who also became my schoolmate in UP College Cebu did an EJK on this criminal who did a very horrible thing to their family (ironically she is anti duterte). i hate divulging this very ugly and supposedly secret information. i'm sure it's not appropriate so i hope you understand why i have to leave out the details. but sometimes information can help society become more aware and get a better understanding of the critical issues that plague our society. if you want to know the details pm me on facebook.
V. arguing your favorite color
i notice that when people debate about the EJK's they fail to separate the effectiveness of duterte's policies with the morality question. those are 2 separate things. the question on effectiveness can be fairly debated. but i don't think the morality side can really be debated because it would be like debating whether blue is more beautiful than red.
morality is really just something that society chooses. there is no such thing as good and evil, there are only winners and losers. if hitler won wwII, we would all be white people speaking germans and almost everyone will believe asians and black people are sub human species with equal rights as animals, just like george washington thought slavery was ok. and maybe future generations will think we are savages for eating innocent cows and chicken.
it's a matter of choice and your choice boils down to your personality. is morality a means to an end? or is morality the end itself? there is no right or wrong answer it all depends on your inborn personality.
i won't explain further the "means to an end" argument because that's more popular, natural, practical and normal. i will explain why pure morality is a legitimate and valid choice. this choice is valid because human beings are suppose to be more than animals - humans should strive for ideals and principles beyond just mere survival and prosperity. humans come and go, we all die but our principles and ideals can live on forever. i don't subscribe to this point of view but i respect it.
i've met a few people with this personality. there was this UP Cebu fine arts student who said he will never fight back if someone tries to hurt him. he said he will rather suffer or die than fight back. very impressive. i also had a coworker back in altera corporation named kirk martinez. kirk was a genius. one of the smartest guy's i've ever met. he says america should never go to war. even if it means being conquered and enslaved. amazing.
so for anti duterte folks, morality is the ultimate goal. for duterte, trump and pragmatists, morality is just a means to an end.
VI. effective or useless?
ok since we can't argue the morality question, i will give my 2 cents on the effectiveness. i think statistically it's a wash. yes the crime rate went down 13% in the first 6 months but i don't think it's enough.
before duterte, hold ups and killings were rampant. the son of a cebu country club member was shot on the head by a drug addict trying to rob him. it happened in a supposedly safe part of town. just before that, near my grandma's house in andres abellana, i heard 2 pops. i thought it was a fire cracker. turns out a foreigner and his girlfriend was shot by a drug addict trying to rob them. i remember scanning all the newspapers the next day to see if it was in the news but it wasn't. maybe because no one died. but it just shows how common it was. but ever since du30 became president, so far i haven't heard or read about crimes caused by drug junkies desperate to get a fix.
of course my personal observations and experiences do not paint the whole picture. but maybe people also are observing the same thing.
VII. pride: the hidden cancer
everyone is focusing on the statistics of crime and drug abuse but to me those are just like pimples. the real cancer is hidden and it's one that can truly ruin society. you won't have any idea what i'm talking about until you experience it yourself.
before du30 was president, i was gassing up my motor bike in the gas station when a girl asked me if i could give her a ride. i didn't even find her attractive i just gave her a ride to be a gentleman. that girl turned out to be the girlfriend of a drug dealer. the drug dealer got angry and threatened my life. before du30 became president, drug dealers were so big headed. they thought they were kings of the community because they had connections with the higher ups. i was so furious. all my years of hard work in school and my career could be wasted in a blink of an eye. my life is ruined just because of a cockroach. i can't enjoy my life anymore because i would always be watching my back wherever i go. so of course i had to do something about it. for legal purposes i won't say what happened. but let's say hypothetically i whacked him. it would be recorded as an EJK. then his gang would blame the hit on their rival gang so they retaliate and a war erupts resulting in a few more deaths recorded as EJKs. this is a good example of why numbers and statistics alone are not enough to get an educated opinion.
before du30 became president, i used to fear for my life every time i hang out at slum areas because the drug gangs are always suspicious of strangers being informers or rival gang members. but now i feel much safer. there are still drugs being sold but the problem is much less . du30's war has made the drug dealers less threatening. before du30, drug dealers were feared and many regular folks were afraid of accidentally crossing paths with a drug dealer. nowadays, the fear is gone and the drug dealers are the ones afraid and hiding.
before du30, i went out in the middle of the night to buy balut. i saw this very young, beautiful, and surprisingly rich looking girl loitering around. so i talked to her to make sure everything was alright turns out she has not eaten for 2 days and so i offered to help her. her name is jovelyn capuno. her mom left her when she was a baby. her dad is a drug addict and is in jail for theft. she used to live with her uncle who attempted to rape her and shot her with a gun while he was drunk. the bullet barely missed her ears. so she ran away with her grandmother who is too weak and old to take care of her. they were hiding from her uncle so she would only go out at night. so i took her in and took care of her until she graduated high school. now she is doing very well. working as a call center agent for a year already. when duterte became president, her uncle who lived on a mansion because he was connected with this powerful drug lord in mindanao ended up living in a tent in the mountains (last time i saw him).
before duterte, there were 4 areas in cebu that no stranger would ever walk into for fear the drug gangs might mistake them for being an informant - Pasil, Dulho, Ermita, and A lopez (PDEA). this is not a joke, it's just a bizarre coincidence that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency also has PDEA as an acronym. anyway, there will be 0 killings because nobody would go there. duterte comes along and makes these places much safer so people are now free to go there to visit relatives. or in my case, help some of my scholars. but one day a dude sleeps with his neighbor's wife and gets killed by the husband. this would skew the stats. if you just look at the stats, you will think the place is more dangerous when in fact it's much safer as long as you don't bone someone else's wife.
nowadays i notice the amount of drugs and drug users have not really improved significantly. but to me that's ok because duterte's chemo on the real cancer is working.
actually duterte understands the cancer that i'm talking about because he too was a victim of drug lord pride cancer.
VIII. how it started - rare perfect storm
how duterte started killing drug lords. when du30 became mayor, the drug lords tried to bribe him. he won't accept the bribe so the drug lords threatened him. to remove the threat, he went to war with the drug lords, and won.
usually, a politician that is well educated like duterte who is a lawyer and comes from the "safe bubble" of an affluent family would just play it safe and take the bribe. it's a natural instinct of man to make the safety of his family a top priority. and imagine all those years of hard work in law school can go to waste in a blink of an eye if the drug lords whack him. anyway, the drug problem is very complicated and not taking the bribe won't really do anything to solve it. so why take a risk? you gotta be crazy to take this risk.
there are quite a few very principled heroic politicians who won't take the bribe and will just risk their lives for the sake of principles. but usually, these types of politicians are not the warrior or soldier type. they don't have the personality, the guts, the street smarts and leadership skills to do the "NECESSARY EVIL" or go to war against the syndicate. much more win it.
there are politicians who do have the personality, experience and skills to go to war with the drug lords but usually, these politicians are themselves evil gangsters or even drug lords.
so duterte is a very very rare phenomenon or hybrid. let's just hope he will be successful. nobody really knows. only time will tell. karl marx was also a rare phenomenon. karl marx's intentions were noble yet his ideology caused so much death and suffering. the good news is karl marx lived inside the intellectual bubble while duterte grew up in the real world.
IX. rule of thumb: just listen to the smart people
you now what? omg i just realized. the guardian !!! CNN !!! time magazine !!! french newspapers !!! new york times !!! they all think duterte is a serial killer. these people are 100 times smarter than me. they have phd's in the best schools in the world. i wasn't even able to get in ateneo and i only got in to UPLB because of connections. who am i to contradict them? FORGET EVERYTHING I SAID HERE. THESE PEOPLE ARE SMARTER THAN ME JUST LISTEN TO WHAT THEY SAY. THEY KNOW BETTER.
example, karl marx was a genius. yet he started an ideology that can easily be hijacked by state tyranny. so when people tried to follow his teachings it caused so much death and suffering. karl marx was probably living in a bubble so he lacked a good understanding of human nature. just like his followers then and now.
X. stupidity is not obsolete
https://ian-crystal.blogspot.com/2019/05/stupidity-is-not-obsolete.html
XI. great teamwork
12/16/18 fb post:
in the next election, please diversify your votes between pro duterte and anti duterte candidates because having checks and balances is more important.
fall of a drug queen - bitag - notice near the end of this video someone tried to bribe the authorities. if duterte was not president, this video would not exist and those authorities would have taken the bribe. and this is what really blows my mind. notice how the host exposes the possibility that the drug lord here is just a sacrificial lamb. the host is very pro duterte but amazingly, he is not bias. very rare. and this is another thing that blows my mind - the top government official appointed by duterte also exposed that there are very influential people in duterte's administration that calls him to try to help a drug lord after a raid. he is basically being a traitor towards president duterte. he even says, "very sad. very sad". UNPRECEDENTED !!! that means he is serving the country, not the president who appointed him. here is another amazing example where they caught on video someone trying to bribe an authority - drug raid on teenage sex party - bitag. incredible !!!
I. cops are not like star wars stormtroopers
leftists always have this notion that the poor are the victims and they are helpless. i see the funerals of the extra judicial killings (EJK) in tv and i think there is an angle we are not looking at. the cops are not like star wars storm troopers. they are human beings who value their lives and they have their own families. if the EJK victim is really innocent, shouldn't we also be worried about the lives of the cops and their families? i don't think the cops can afford bodyguards for their children. if cops are doing something bad enough that would really anger the families of the victims, the cops are at a huge disadvantage. cops don't get help from darth duterte with jedi powers. cops can't guess which ones might retaliate and monitor them, but it's easy to study the movements and points of weaknesses of a single cop and plan a revenge. the only thing a cop can do is perform his/her duties with honor and pride and not worry about getting killed because sacrificing your life to protect your country is a great duty and honor. the reason we don't hear much about revenge from the victim's families is maybe the victims are not that innocent as the anti duterte propagandists claim to be.
i hate to sound callous and anarchy-ish but if it's really true the cops were evil, i won't be angry at the evil cops, i will be angry at the families and friends of the victims for not retaliating. i know that ideally, you should always go through the justice system first. although IT WAS DUTERTE WHO SAID HE USED EJKs BECAUSE OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS BROKEN. so duterte would actually support you because you are not actually killing cops, you are killing criminals and helping duterte fatten the fishes in manila bay. and i know the good cops will also be happy to see their evil comrades gone - In profanity-laden outburst, Duterte threatens to kill crooked cops
i don't want to ignore the possibility of society plunging into anarchy because of never ending cycle of retaliation and counter retaliation. but to me that would be far fetched. i believe too many filipinos value peace and prosperity. we had too many coup de etats where no one even fired a single shot. i don't think filipinos are angry ideologues or blind extremists who would just retaliate without being 100% sure what their doing is right. it's those very close to the EJK victim who will be closer to the truth and can make a better judgement.
example, if the EJK victim is your love one who stole your 52" flat screen TV, after a number of drug rehab attempts and interventions, maybe it's not worth it to retaliate because at some point down the line chances are your love one would still be killed by someone else anyway. you can also consider it as a blessing in disguise that your love one can finally rest in peace and your family can move on. actually i have a dear friend, (his facebook name is andrew gelig - but he sometimes changes his fb name so just search andrew in my list of friends. he is the only andrew but in case he also changed his first name let me know i will pm you his new name). he had a severely drug addict bother. the EJK squads kept visiting their house but would always forgive his brother. one day his dad was stabbed and killed by his drug addict brother over a petty argument.
i'm not trying to instigate or incite anything. what i'm trying to say is that if A is really happening then B would also be happening and since B is not happening maybe A is not really happening. i'm not writing this to persuade filipinos to retaliate. that would be selling the filipinos short, as if saying filipinos are too dumb to figure out for themselves. i'm simply trying to explain the possibility that the current EJK victims being sensationalized in the media are not totally innocent. because if they really are innocent, the evil cops should also be very worried about their safety and the safety of their families. otherwise, you are basically saying the filipinos are weakling cowards who can't fend for themselves. to me that's more problematic than evil cops or tyranny. besides, i know nowadays, there are so many good dedicated cops who would not hesitate to neutralize their crooked colleagues. maybe inspired by the popular tv show probinsyano.
for me, even if tyranny does not exist, it would still be a problem if the people can't defend themselves against tyranny. but even if there is tyranny, if the people have the ability to fight back, then to me it's just game on. welcome to the real world. if the people don't fight back, then as cruel as it sounds i have to say it's the people's fault. this is not paradise.
what about the borderline cases where a good honest cop can easily make a judgement mistake? i think cases like that would be rare. and correct me if i'm wrong but i think in these cases the government will offer reparations to the victim. if not, then chances are the family will understand that mistakes and accidents happen. i would. if not, that's why i have so much high respect for cops because it's a tough and dangerous job.
what i'm writing here is not a suggestion or advice on what we should be doing i'm merely trying to speculate or analyze the actual realities that the media is not telling you but are vital for you to make better political choices.
of course you could get killed if you retaliate but that's the true measure of a society - bravery and COMPETENCE !!! americans lost thousands of lives fighting the nazis. it's an honoroable thing to fight for your dignity and your fellow citizens who might be the next victims. heck, we are all gonna die anyway. why did ISIS fail in marawi? because filipinos were not afraid or too concerned with innocent lives being killed in the bombings. collateral damage was never an issue because we know that sometimes, lives need to be sacrificed to combat evil. that's why a huge majority of filipinos still support du30 even with children being caught in the cross fire.
"the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
in developed societies like america, norway, japan, etc ... cops don't harm innocent people not only because they are good cops, but also because the people are strong and smart and cannot be abused. maybe the reason why there are places where boko haram and ISIS would flourish is because the good people in those places are too incompetent to retaliate against the bad elements. if ironman goes there and wipes out all the members of ISIS and boko haram, there would be many wannabees waiting in line to take their place.
i believe filipinos are competent enough to not allow evil cops to exist. when marawi was seiged by ISIS fighters, muslims were helping christians and christians were helping muslims - these amazing displays of unity is a level of sophistication that only exists in other great cultures and societies - places were evil cops cannot flourish. unlike in the middle east where sunnis and shias are killing each other even if they are all muslims. these things are related, just like a class of a person - if a person is highly educated, chances are that person also has good manners, stronger personality, etc ...
i lived in ukraine where cops would just blatantly give traffic citations to anyone when they need money even if there's no violation. my girlfriend's brother was driving and a cop stopped us. the cop said we did an illegal left turn even if we clearly never did any turn whatsoever. the brother just gave money so we can go. then they started yammering about their corrupt president. i was so furious. i told them it's not the president's fault that cops are blatantly bleeding you dry. i told them it's your fault. at first they were shocked and insulted. then i explained to them what i'm writing here and they were impressed. after the orange revolution, i told them nothing would change as long as mafias and corrupt cops continue to plague their country which hinders investments. i think the existence of many competing corporate tyrannies is a sign of a strong and vibrant society. corporations are like sharks. existence of sharks is a sign the ecosystem is healthy or has recovered.
my ukrainian friends are academically smart people. that's when i started to realize left wing liberals are very good at acquiring knowledge but if the knowledge is not taught in schools, like what i'm writing here, then they are screwed. they are very dependent on one size fits all cookie cutter ideals and principles. fortunately, most of the things that need to be analyzed and concluded have already been concluded and written in books and taught in schools so you can be wildly successful in many fields armed with just basic logic. just brute force memorize all the knowledge. meanwhile duterte looks at every case using a pragmatic approach. that is why it's usually the ultra knowledgeable liberals who are going crazy at duterte's out of the box solution to our drug epidemic. the UN human rights council is even condemning duterte.
the dad of my high school classmate, venjie balansag, was a cop. during those times cops were being assassinated. i was worried about my dear friend and told him if he wants someone to talk to i was there for him. the fucking iglesia just laughed at me and told me he is not losing an ounce of sleep because only the abusive and corrupt cops are being gunned down and his dad is very popular and well loved among the jeepney drivers. (instead it was dandee nellas who needed moral support because both his parents, who were teachers, were in a photo of faculty members taken during the inauguration of the new library building. and the faculty members in the photo were dying one by one from strange causes. they believed it was the enchantress living in the huge acacia tree that they cut down to make way for the new library building that is responsible for the curse. i saw one afternoon they brought in like a white witch to do a ritual using a chicken as a sacrifice. this is suppose to be University of the Philippines - the forefront of science)
II. duterte is not darth vader
duterte has many powerful and rich enemies. the powerful oligarchs hate duterte and wants to bring him down. this is unlike the marcos dictatorship era where he controlled everything and all his enemies were in jail. if duterte is really guilty of murder then why is it that none of his powerful enemy is suing him? they have the connections and resources. besides, 2 of the last 3 presidents were overthrown because of much lesser crimes. that means in the philippines, it's very feasible to sue and oust the president.
III. duterte's bizarre popularity
filipinos are like - ok duterte thanks for whacking the dangerous people who might harm my 8 year old daughter walking home from school.
apparently safety and security takes precedence over religious devotion. philipppines is a very catholic country. yet when he called the pope "a son of a whore", it didn't even cause a dent or scratch to his popularity. this happened before he became president. which is a sign duterte is not some ambitious tyrant. true tyrants pretend to be saints and do everything to please and wow the people just to get elected.
lives have been ruined because of duterte's drug war. my scholars who's lives are utterly ruined because of duterte's drug war are wearing DU30 t-shirts because they are big fans of du30. THAT IS FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE !!! 2 of them just got into a fight because another scholar wore her du30 t-shirt without her permission. i told them you do know the reason why your young and handsome drug lord boyfriends can no longer support you and spoil you with iphones is because of du30, right? they said yes. they are aware of that. then i told them you do know the reason you are with an annoying disgusting old man who will only feed you seafood and vegetables is because of du30 right? they said yes. that's why they thank du30. TOINKS !!! if du30 stops his war on drugs and the drug epidemic returns, my scholars will go back to the drug lords, and i will have be happy once again because i will have more time for myself.
IV. EJK's are not new
i've witnessed way way way more EJK's as a kid. only they weren't called EJKs back then. we called it "SALVAGE". i had friends who were salvaged. when the city jail gets too overcrowded, miraculously there would be a botched mass prison escape (puga) where hundreds of escapees are gunned down. WINK !!! WINK !!! i remember the whole kangkong (spinach) field the size of a soccer field just outside the city jail. it was full of dead bodies. it was not that far from our house. i walked around looking at the dead bodies and accidentally stepped on one of bodies hidden by the kangkong plants.
way before duterte became president, since the 1990's, cebu was already known for vigilante killings (you can google it for more information). it wasn't just the cops killing the criminals but civilian volunteers as well. it did improve the peace and order situation in cebu significantly. lo and behold cebu has been the most economically vibrant city in asia in the past decade. so just imagine, why in the world would you mess with a group of people who has the guts to kill the criminals themselves?
i remember about 30 years ago the brother of a drug addict shot the friends of my uncle (tito yogin) who were supplying drugs to his brother (luckily my uncle was not present at the time of the shooting). if you live in cebu you probably know this guy well known in the drug world during that era - his name is jumbo. he was one of those who got shot which got him paralyzed from the waist down. i used to see him on a wheel chair around town and one time i saw him sitting at the doorsteps of my grandmother's motel. he was shooting heroine. last time i saw him, i think it was around 1990, was in escario street. he was piggybacking on this one eyed dude (bulhog). an interesting note is the drug dealers or their families never retaliated on the brother of the drug addict who shot and killed i think 5 of the top drug dealers in cebu at that time and wounded others. he was never prosecuted. he was a just a good guy who was pissed that his brother became a drug addict. this shows maybe it's the nature of filipinos to be understanding and accepting of EJKs even long before du30.
i remember the family of my childhood friend who also became my schoolmate in UP College Cebu did an EJK on this criminal who did a very horrible thing to their family (ironically she is anti duterte). i hate divulging this very ugly and supposedly secret information. i'm sure it's not appropriate so i hope you understand why i have to leave out the details. but sometimes information can help society become more aware and get a better understanding of the critical issues that plague our society. if you want to know the details pm me on facebook.
V. arguing your favorite color
i notice that when people debate about the EJK's they fail to separate the effectiveness of duterte's policies with the morality question. those are 2 separate things. the question on effectiveness can be fairly debated. but i don't think the morality side can really be debated because it would be like debating whether blue is more beautiful than red.
morality is really just something that society chooses. there is no such thing as good and evil, there are only winners and losers. if hitler won wwII, we would all be white people speaking germans and almost everyone will believe asians and black people are sub human species with equal rights as animals, just like george washington thought slavery was ok. and maybe future generations will think we are savages for eating innocent cows and chicken.
it's a matter of choice and your choice boils down to your personality. is morality a means to an end? or is morality the end itself? there is no right or wrong answer it all depends on your inborn personality.
i won't explain further the "means to an end" argument because that's more popular, natural, practical and normal. i will explain why pure morality is a legitimate and valid choice. this choice is valid because human beings are suppose to be more than animals - humans should strive for ideals and principles beyond just mere survival and prosperity. humans come and go, we all die but our principles and ideals can live on forever. i don't subscribe to this point of view but i respect it.
i've met a few people with this personality. there was this UP Cebu fine arts student who said he will never fight back if someone tries to hurt him. he said he will rather suffer or die than fight back. very impressive. i also had a coworker back in altera corporation named kirk martinez. kirk was a genius. one of the smartest guy's i've ever met. he says america should never go to war. even if it means being conquered and enslaved. amazing.
so for anti duterte folks, morality is the ultimate goal. for duterte, trump and pragmatists, morality is just a means to an end.
VI. effective or useless?
ok since we can't argue the morality question, i will give my 2 cents on the effectiveness. i think statistically it's a wash. yes the crime rate went down 13% in the first 6 months but i don't think it's enough.
before duterte, hold ups and killings were rampant. the son of a cebu country club member was shot on the head by a drug addict trying to rob him. it happened in a supposedly safe part of town. just before that, near my grandma's house in andres abellana, i heard 2 pops. i thought it was a fire cracker. turns out a foreigner and his girlfriend was shot by a drug addict trying to rob them. i remember scanning all the newspapers the next day to see if it was in the news but it wasn't. maybe because no one died. but it just shows how common it was. but ever since du30 became president, so far i haven't heard or read about crimes caused by drug junkies desperate to get a fix.
of course my personal observations and experiences do not paint the whole picture. but maybe people also are observing the same thing.
VII. pride: the hidden cancer
everyone is focusing on the statistics of crime and drug abuse but to me those are just like pimples. the real cancer is hidden and it's one that can truly ruin society. you won't have any idea what i'm talking about until you experience it yourself.
before du30 was president, i was gassing up my motor bike in the gas station when a girl asked me if i could give her a ride. i didn't even find her attractive i just gave her a ride to be a gentleman. that girl turned out to be the girlfriend of a drug dealer. the drug dealer got angry and threatened my life. before du30 became president, drug dealers were so big headed. they thought they were kings of the community because they had connections with the higher ups. i was so furious. all my years of hard work in school and my career could be wasted in a blink of an eye. my life is ruined just because of a cockroach. i can't enjoy my life anymore because i would always be watching my back wherever i go. so of course i had to do something about it. for legal purposes i won't say what happened. but let's say hypothetically i whacked him. it would be recorded as an EJK. then his gang would blame the hit on their rival gang so they retaliate and a war erupts resulting in a few more deaths recorded as EJKs. this is a good example of why numbers and statistics alone are not enough to get an educated opinion.
before du30 became president, i used to fear for my life every time i hang out at slum areas because the drug gangs are always suspicious of strangers being informers or rival gang members. but now i feel much safer. there are still drugs being sold but the problem is much less . du30's war has made the drug dealers less threatening. before du30, drug dealers were feared and many regular folks were afraid of accidentally crossing paths with a drug dealer. nowadays, the fear is gone and the drug dealers are the ones afraid and hiding.
before du30, i went out in the middle of the night to buy balut. i saw this very young, beautiful, and surprisingly rich looking girl loitering around. so i talked to her to make sure everything was alright turns out she has not eaten for 2 days and so i offered to help her. her name is jovelyn capuno. her mom left her when she was a baby. her dad is a drug addict and is in jail for theft. she used to live with her uncle who attempted to rape her and shot her with a gun while he was drunk. the bullet barely missed her ears. so she ran away with her grandmother who is too weak and old to take care of her. they were hiding from her uncle so she would only go out at night. so i took her in and took care of her until she graduated high school. now she is doing very well. working as a call center agent for a year already. when duterte became president, her uncle who lived on a mansion because he was connected with this powerful drug lord in mindanao ended up living in a tent in the mountains (last time i saw him).
before duterte, there were 4 areas in cebu that no stranger would ever walk into for fear the drug gangs might mistake them for being an informant - Pasil, Dulho, Ermita, and A lopez (PDEA). this is not a joke, it's just a bizarre coincidence that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency also has PDEA as an acronym. anyway, there will be 0 killings because nobody would go there. duterte comes along and makes these places much safer so people are now free to go there to visit relatives. or in my case, help some of my scholars. but one day a dude sleeps with his neighbor's wife and gets killed by the husband. this would skew the stats. if you just look at the stats, you will think the place is more dangerous when in fact it's much safer as long as you don't bone someone else's wife.
nowadays i notice the amount of drugs and drug users have not really improved significantly. but to me that's ok because duterte's chemo on the real cancer is working.
actually duterte understands the cancer that i'm talking about because he too was a victim of drug lord pride cancer.
VIII. how it started - rare perfect storm
how duterte started killing drug lords. when du30 became mayor, the drug lords tried to bribe him. he won't accept the bribe so the drug lords threatened him. to remove the threat, he went to war with the drug lords, and won.
usually, a politician that is well educated like duterte who is a lawyer and comes from the "safe bubble" of an affluent family would just play it safe and take the bribe. it's a natural instinct of man to make the safety of his family a top priority. and imagine all those years of hard work in law school can go to waste in a blink of an eye if the drug lords whack him. anyway, the drug problem is very complicated and not taking the bribe won't really do anything to solve it. so why take a risk? you gotta be crazy to take this risk.
there are quite a few very principled heroic politicians who won't take the bribe and will just risk their lives for the sake of principles. but usually, these types of politicians are not the warrior or soldier type. they don't have the personality, the guts, the street smarts and leadership skills to do the "NECESSARY EVIL" or go to war against the syndicate. much more win it.
there are politicians who do have the personality, experience and skills to go to war with the drug lords but usually, these politicians are themselves evil gangsters or even drug lords.
so duterte is a very very rare phenomenon or hybrid. let's just hope he will be successful. nobody really knows. only time will tell. karl marx was also a rare phenomenon. karl marx's intentions were noble yet his ideology caused so much death and suffering. the good news is karl marx lived inside the intellectual bubble while duterte grew up in the real world.
IX. rule of thumb: just listen to the smart people
you now what? omg i just realized. the guardian !!! CNN !!! time magazine !!! french newspapers !!! new york times !!! they all think duterte is a serial killer. these people are 100 times smarter than me. they have phd's in the best schools in the world. i wasn't even able to get in ateneo and i only got in to UPLB because of connections. who am i to contradict them? FORGET EVERYTHING I SAID HERE. THESE PEOPLE ARE SMARTER THAN ME JUST LISTEN TO WHAT THEY SAY. THEY KNOW BETTER.
example, karl marx was a genius. yet he started an ideology that can easily be hijacked by state tyranny. so when people tried to follow his teachings it caused so much death and suffering. karl marx was probably living in a bubble so he lacked a good understanding of human nature. just like his followers then and now.
X. stupidity is not obsolete
https://ian-crystal.blogspot.com/2019/05/stupidity-is-not-obsolete.html
XI. great teamwork
12/16/18 fb post:
you have no credibility to criticize an extra judicial killing (EJK) if you don't praise the successful and bloodless drug raids. don't forget that a successful bloodless drug raid is very good for the country. anti EJK activists should celebrate because it was because of them that president duterte implemented strict guidelines for drug raids - https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/194687-new-oplan-tokhang-guidelines-pnp-war-drugs. also note that crime has improved significantly so it's a great teamwork between anti duterte and pro duterte people.
fall of a drug queen - bitag - notice near the end of this video someone tried to bribe the authorities. if duterte was not president, this video would not exist and those authorities would have taken the bribe. and this is what really blows my mind. notice how the host exposes the possibility that the drug lord here is just a sacrificial lamb. the host is very pro duterte but amazingly, he is not bias. very rare. and this is another thing that blows my mind - the top government official appointed by duterte also exposed that there are very influential people in duterte's administration that calls him to try to help a drug lord after a raid. he is basically being a traitor towards president duterte. he even says, "very sad. very sad". UNPRECEDENTED !!! that means he is serving the country, not the president who appointed him. here is another amazing example where they caught on video someone trying to bribe an authority - drug raid on teenage sex party - bitag. incredible !!!
(for more of my knowledge bombs, click the "ian's knowledge bombs" banner at the top of this article and choose any article in the table of contents that piques your interest)
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