LAW & ORDER: PUNISHING THE PUNISHER?
The World of Crime is one that provides quick bucks in a heap; this is true of most of the activities of the underworld since the earnings from the field of crime are really mind boggling. And, because of the huge amounts of money involved and the illegality of the illicit trades, all the wrong type of people are involved.
Particularly where the trade or peddling in drugs are concerned, the criminals will go to any extent to ensure that the awesome flow of money that they earn is not threatened or affected in any way. The moment they feel this source of their ill-gotten wealth threatened in any way, their response is quick, ferocious and deadly.
Similar is the case of the former Davao speaker, Rodrigo Duterte who has been instrumental in almost eradicating the criminals along with their crime in his city where he was the undisputed king of the crime fighters.
It was this penchant to crush criminal activities along with their perpetrators that earned Duterte the title of The Punisher; from a city dominated and spoilt by the crime-rate, Davao became the safest city to live in South East Asia during his 22-year reign.
But, as stated before, the criminal elements and their powerful and ruthless henchmen and cronies who have been at the receiving end are a scared lot now; their biggest and most formidable punisher has grown in stature and power making them all vulnerable to targeted culling.
Their biggest worry is the margin of victory which he ensured through just a single declaration; in promising to eradicate crime in the country within a period of three to six months, he had pocketed all the poor and helpless commoners; he had them eating out of their hands, hanging on his every word and baying for him with all the emotions they could muster. He was suddenly the frontrunner for the post of the President of the Philippines by far.
To add further fuel to this popular fire, as soon as he won the elections by a comfortable margin, he set upon consolidating his strategy to achieve what the public wanted him to, declaring war on the criminals and the drug runners.
So, with the memories of the past escapades of Duterte in mind, the writing is on the wall for all those indulging in unlawful activities; to add to their terrified state came the declaration by the President-elect that he wanted to re-introduce the death penalty for dealing with those peddling drugs and indulging in serious unacceptable crimes.
Moreover, he gave a blanket permission to the police and the other security forces to be tough on all illegal activities and that he will be their shield against any problems that they may encounter in the due performance of their crime-fighting duties.
He went so far as to say that he will absolve them even if they killed the criminals who were:
- Resisting arrest through violent means,
- Involved in committing grave crimes or
- Posing a danger to the law and order of the country.
But, that is only one side of the coin; it is not as if the other party i.e is the criminal fraternity is unaware of the dangers posed by the advent of Duterte; not only are they aware of the dangers of allowing Duterte to the upper hand, they also know that, if they want their illegal activities to continue, they will have to do something about the juggernaut that is Duterte.
They are also aware of the fact that the re-introduction of the capital is a very distinct possibility and pretty soon, the government may resort to executions at least to get their point through.
Meanwhile, there are whispers of conspiracy doing the rounds which indicate that some retaliatory action is likely to be resorted to by the underground; reliable sources indicate that there is an initiative that is being planned by the top bosses amongst the drug lobbies and crime rings.
A group of crime bosses is planning a fund of one billion Pesos for elimination of the following:
- President-elect Duterte,
- Head of the National Police of Philippines Ronald Dela Rosa,
- Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, Head of the Bureaux of Corrections (BuCor), and
- Senator Liela de Lima, who was Justice Secretary earlier.
The plan has been hatched by about a score of gangsters who are lodged inside New Bilibid Prison (NBP); the information had been provided by an informant who is quite intimate with powerful contacts within the drug cartels.
Readers are aware that Duterte had recently announced rewards for the heads of drug lords as follows:
- P5 million for every drug peddler or boss killed,
- P3 million for the arrest, and
- P 50,000 for small-time pushers and carriers of drugs.
It is also a well-known fact that Bilibid Prison is the center for drug operations in the country.
Umrao Singh Umraoz.wordpress.com
Written for: Lars-Magnus Carlsson www.thephilippinepride.com
