Duterte asks for another year to finish the drugs war

Interestingly one of our drivers in Manila was attacked by a gang of four men in his taxi yesterday.  He grabbed the hand holding the gun and twisted it round to kill the assailant but it was only a plastic weapon.  The men ran off, straight into a Police patrol and were arrested.  It ended up all over the TV networks.

The taxi was impounded by the Police as necessary for evidence, losing two days’ takings – the only loss incurred, as it happens.  No case will be brought against the ‘holdappers’ (I love Filipino misuse of English) unless the driver files a case.  How can he?  The gangs will come round and sort him if he does that.  The Police won’t prosecute.  It’s crazy.

This kind of thing wasn’t happening when Duterte’s drugs war was in progress.  Peace reigned on the streets. Just two months since he cancelled the extrajudicial killing of drug dealers, under international pressure from bodies like the EU and the UN, the drug gangs are back on the streets.  There is no legal process to stop them.  There is only one way to sort them in the Philippines – the Duterte way.

The CIA makes its money from drugs so all the usual do-gooders are trotted out to object to the killing of those who will destroy the Philippines, if they are not stopped.  It’s hard for people in Europe or the US to understand the situation as it is in countries like the Philippines.  Legal processes are a waste of time in most cases.