EDITORIAL - Reloaded

Making good on its promise of a less bloody if not bloodless campaign, the Philippine National Police is back in the war on illegal drugs. And for the most part, “Double Barrel Reloaded” is living up to the PNP promise, with most of the drug suspects being apprehended rather than being shot dead ostensibly while resisting arrest or “nanlaban.”

Even as human rights advocates welcome this kinder, gentler version of Double Barrel, however, killings suspected to be related to drugs and attributed to vigilantes continue. While the numbers are now lower, the fatal shootings perpetrated mostly by armed men on motorcycles continue almost daily.

Public suspicion persists that some of the vigilantes are police themselves or other persons working for the government such as barangay personnel and militias or so-called force multipliers. Whether or not the suspicions are correct, the truth must be unearthed – to give justice to those killed, who could be innocent of any wrongdoing, and to prevent the murderers from killing again.

The government says vigilante killings account for about half of the 7,000 drug deaths since Oplan Tokhang was launched. The killings, together with accusations that many of the fatalities in police operations were summarily executed, have fueled concerns about extrajudicial killings. Such concerns are reportedly set to be raised before the International Criminal Court.

Even without the threat of facing prosecution before the ICC, the administration should pursue complaints about police abuses and vigilante killings if it wants to sustain public support for the war on drugs. Few people would argue about the need to confront the drug menace, especially now that the administration has shown how pervasive the problem has become in this country. Events in the past months also indicate that the threat posed by narco politics is not overblown.

But the bloody campaign has fueled public unease about the means to achieve the end. Drug suspects aren’t the only ones who have been killed; their elderly relatives and even young children have become collateral damage in a brutal war.

A law enforcement campaign always suffers when it loses public support. While a less bloody version of Double Barrel is good, it must be accompanied by sincere efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the abuse of power and the murder of innocents.