Following orders

This is the cost of following orders, whether blindly or knowingly, in the Philippine National Police: 214 cops faced 352 criminal charges, with 20 still in detention, for carrying out the war on drugs during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. Another 195 cops were sacked while 398 face possible dismissal from the PNP over administrative cases.

They are among 1,286 police officers “affected” by Duterte’s crackdown, as counted by PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil.

The 1,286 include 312 who were killed and 974 who were injured during anti-drug operations, according to Marbil, who laments that the cops have received little help in their legal and financial woes.

In a statement to the media, Marbil said the PNP should not bear “sole responsibility” for the brutal war on drugs because police were also “equally affected” by the crackdown.

“The numbers remind us that the impact of the anti-drug campaign was deeply felt by our police force as well,” Marbil said. “Several police officers endured not only physical harm, but also found themselves entangled in legal and administrative challenges.”

Last Monday, congressmen filled in what Marbil did not say: Duterte has not delivered on the promise he often made during his presidency, that the PNP members who carried out his crackdown on illegal drugs need not worry about possible lawsuits.

Facing the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee recently, Duterte also said he was taking “full legal, moral responsibility” for his war on drugs, which he began when he was mayor of Davao City, and which he hoped to replicate nationwide when he became president.

Throughout Oplans Tokhang and Double Barrel, the PNP maintained that the drug killings arose from legitimate law enforcement operations, with suspects slain because they resisted arrest or nanlaban.

The PNP reported over 6,000 nanlaban deaths in anti-drug operations. Human rights groups, counting those killed by vigilantes in civilian clothes, say the figure is closer to 30,000.

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A common explanation of low-ranking cops who faced criminal and administrative charges for the drug killings was that they were simply following orders, or were acting in self-defense.

Such excuses cannot be easily dismissed. Those low in the PNP totem pole do follow orders, presuming regularity in law enforcement. The police and military require this kind of discipline and obedience to authority when carrying out operations; uncoordinated actions would be chaotic and potentially deadly, for both cops and the subjects of the operation.

The illegal drug problem is real and it is a massive global business. There are Filipinos, many of them women, who have languished in jails in several countries, from Indonesia to China to as far away as Brazil, for acting as mules for international drug rings.

Large-scale drug dealers are vicious in protecting their business. Their massive profits allow them to be well-armed and well-equipped, and they use the weapons. They don’t hesitate to shoot to kill. So there are cops who conduct anti-narcotics operations with a “kill or be killed” attitude.

Ideally, cops are supposed to shoot merely to disable. But bullets flying all around you is not an ideal situation.

When I went to Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban, with bombs still exploding intermittently all over Kabul, I was told that the international forces sent to help stabilize the country were under orders not to shoot first in the face of armed threat.

I asked soldiers from several countries how they could do this when they see a Taliban gun pointed at them or their Humvee. No one could give me a straight answer.

Our Afghan guide was more straightforward. If anyone with a gun aimed at us blocked the path of our swiftly moving vehicle, he said the person would be run over, and there would be no looking back; we would not stop.

There are drug suspects who do resist arrest, fight back, shoot cops and try to flee.

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The problem with Duterte’s campaign was that the killings were carried out on such a massive scale, mostly targeting impoverished street pushers and drug abusers. Those thousands could not have all resisted arrest. Several cases – as established in court – showed that innocent victims were summarily executed by police.

Sifting the legitimate drug busts and self-defensive police actions from the summary execution of suspects is a challenging task.

Were the cops simply following orders when they executed Kian de los Santos, 17, Carl Angelo Arnaiz, 19, and 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman? The body of De Guzman was found in a creek in Nueva Ecija, with nearly 30 stab wounds, his head wrapped in plastic and packing tape and his legs in a sack.

The cash reward system for drug kills, rumored since the bodies began piling up in the first six months of the Duterte presidency, weakens the excuse of cops that they were blindly following orders. Royina Garma among others confirmed the reward system, which Duterte and his top aides have denied.

Another complicated issue is determining how high culpability should go. Duterte and his top aides cannot expect to evade liability. Garma, who is expected to face indictments for multiple counts of murder, may get a lighter sentence in case of conviction.

Cops who carried out the war on drugs are now belatedly finding out that, no, Duterte doesn’t have their back, as he kept promising.

“Our mission is to secure a safer Philippines through effective crime-fighting that respects human rights and dignity,” Marbil declared. “Learning from these experiences, we aim to build a more balanced and humane approach to law enforcement.”

Considering the nature of the crime threat, this is easier said than done.

The PNP must clarify to its members what constitutes an unlawful order, thoroughly discuss the circumstances when lethal force may be applied, and when a cop may legitimately disobey a superior officer.