Pubdate: Tue, 16 Aug 2016
Source: Sunstar Cagayan De Oro (Philippines)
Column: Spark of Law
Copyright: 2016 Sunstar Cagayan De Oro.
Contact:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2983
Author: Tibs Palasan, Jr.

THE WAR PARADIGM

OFTENTIMES, debates do not end in resolutions nor do the arguments 
meet squarely. The problem lies not in the lack of logic but on the 
different paradigms the reasoning proceeds from.

Understanding the war on drugs require a proper paradigm, the paradigm of war.

Over the years, decades even, the drug situation has worsened. Drug 
addicts took marijuana and cough syrups. They walked in the streets 
and their profile as addicts are unmistakable: long hair, tattered 
pants, skinny, and untidy.

Overtime the addicts turn to synthetic drugs, most famous of which is 
"shabu." So too the profile of an addict: it has gone a massive 
transformation. For the untrained eye an addict maybe in your office 
without being noticed. They may even wear "barong" or coat and tie.

Now and then though, the damage on society wrought by drug addiction 
is the same: rape, robbery, arson, and the host of other crimes. But 
the gravity of the crimes committed resulting from this drug menace 
has increased exponentially. The daily news of gory and sordid crimes 
hugs the headlines in the broadsheets and in the airwaves.

To date more than 600,000 drug addicts and pushers have surrendered. 
The number is still rising. Of these numbers have not given up, we 
are sure that the crimes, ranging from petty to heinous, multiply tenfold.

Crimes alone do not need the drums of war to beat. Law enforcement 
can take care of them.

But the drug menace has taken another dimension. It has not only 
assaulted our peace in the community but even our democratic 
institutions as well.

Through these years, in hushed and even whispered voices, we hear of 
politicians funded by the drug-lords, of judges and prosecutors under 
their payroll, and of police generals who are members of the inner 
sanctum of the drug ring.

Yes, there were isolated raids when drug enforcement agencies were 
made to account for accomplishments. But those raids often netted 
only the underlings.

What we ordinary mortals suspected all along to be happening in our 
society, President Duterte has verified the list of drug 
personalities. He must have been shocked that judges, prosecutors, 
generals, politicians, and even the lowly CAPFGU are involved. His 
heart must have bled that people he considers friends are on the list.

When the drug menace has assaulted the apparatuses of the state, from 
the local government to the top echelons of the national police, from 
prosecutors to judges, ordinary law enforcement cannot anymore 
measure up to the herculean challenge.

The drug menace has assaulted all levels of our society. It has 
become a pandemic scourge that infects even our law enforcement, and 
the justice system pillar. Left to the normal grind of low 
enforcement, the problem would worsen before we can solve it. We may 
even drown to become a narco-state.

President Duterte has characterized the drug problem as necessitating 
a war. What we are witnessing is a war situation.

The war paradigm calls for unconventional remedies. Truth to tell, 
you cannot simply secure search warrants to 600,000 plus who 
voluntarily surrendered. That would fill the court dockets.

The 600,000 plus pushers or addicts are only a tip of the iceberg. 
The majority has decided to remain in the shadows. The drug menace is 
so massive.

Faced with the enemies of the state, a president cannot simply wait 
for the justice system to grind and take its course. Unconventional 
ways must be adopted. Before we talk of our rights in a democratic 
state, we must first secure the survival of the state. What rights 
can you talk about if we become like Columbia and Mexico when 
drug-related crimes are a daily fare?

What rights can we talk about if the drug cartel control our 
democratic way of life by buying their way out from their crimes, and 
by funding politicians during elections?

Naming and shaming is an upfront to the reputation of the persons in 
the list. But if we come to think of it, what the president is doing 
is only to bring to the open the enemies of the state to that we can 
be aware of them, and fight them at every turn.

Besides, tell me of a war where you don't identify the enemies?

This is the dug-war paradigm of president. If you argue against it, 
then provide for the better option to solve the drug menace. That is 
the only way to kill a paradigm.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom