When governments plead for drug convicts

Governments are sometimes caught appearing confused, between their roles to uphold and enforce the laws of the land, on the one hand, and their inherent duty to protect its citizens, on the other hand. And in moments of such confusions, public officials may unwittingly send unintended messages to a likewise confused citizenry.

The peoples’ trust on governments or their lack of such trust, very much depend on the messages being conveyed by the government to the governed. It is very similar to the image of parents in the eyes of their children. Upon that image depend the peoples’ judgment of whether or not their governments are governments of laws or of men, whether their public officials are strong enough to make firm decisions, albeit unpopular, to uphold the law, or to make political maneuvers that cater to the spontaneous urgings of the crowds, yet undermine the national discipline and inflict damage on the character and culture of the nation.

As law enforcers, governments are expected by the people to be uncompromising in their fights against the evils of drugs, whether drug use, trafficking or drug-pushing are being done within thir territories, or in foreign jurisdictions perpetrated by notorious transnational syndicates using Filipinos as mules and carriers. Public officials take their oaths to uphold the Constitution and enforce the laws of the land, without fear or favor.

As protectors of the citizens, governments are mandated to afford protection to their nationals wherever they are. The mandate to afford protection to labor, is a Constitutional one, without distinction whether Filipino workers are in our country or abroad. We hasten to interject a caveat, however, that underlies all government mandates for protection. They all mean that protection should all be within the bounds of the law, to uphold the laws and to enforce them, without exception, no matter who gets hurt because we are a government of laws and not of men, and that the law may be hard but it is the law.

The Chinese government, regardless of our overall opinion about it, has shown to the world that it has the political will and the capability to uphold and enforce its own laws, within its territories. That is why, China has gained the respect, perhaps not the affection, of the international community of nations. In our respect for China, this government has cooperated with it in the deportation of Taiwanese to Beijing, which brought us into a serious diplomatic row with Taiwan. That is another story.

The matter about drugs may have put in perspective what kind of country and culture we have in the matter of enforcing drug laws. Sending the second highest official to Beijing to plead for clemency for drug convicts, to the mind of the “hoi polloi’’ in this country, may be interpreted as an indication that we are not very serious against drugs, and we will walk long miles and take much effort, spend much resources to save those who have been arrested, tried, convicted of being involved in the violations of drug laws, in accordance with the due process of the host country.

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