Corrupt Justice
TimeWatch Editorial
September 07, 2016
The Free Encyclopedia identifies Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte as Rodrigo "Rody" Roa Duterte, born March 28, 1945, also known as Digong. He is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 16th> President of the Philippines, in office since 2016. ABS-CBN News announced the results of the election 27 May 2016 this way:
“The race is officially over and it's 'Digong' by a landslide and 'Leni' by a hairline. Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Maria Leonor Robredo topped their respective races for President and Vice-President in the 2016 national elections, based on the final tally of votes by Congress sitting as the National Board of Canvassers. Duterte, now all but proclaimed as the president-elect, had a lead of 6,623,822 over his closest rival, Mar Roxas. Grace Poe was in third place, followed by Jejomar Binay, Miriam Defensor Santiago, and Roy Seneres.” RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News, 27 May 2016
The Free Encyclopedia further states that his domestic policy has focused on combating illegal drug trade by initiating a nationwide drug war. Following criticism from United Nations human rights experts that extrajudicial killings had increased since the election, he threatened to withdraw the Philippines from the UN and form a new organization with China and African nations. Reuters, World News on
“Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte railed against the United Nations on Sunday after it called for an end to the wave of killings unleashed by his war on drugs, saying he might leave the organization and invite China and others to form a new one. Two U.N. human rights experts last week urged Manila to stop the extra-judicial executions and killings that have escalated since Duterte won the presidency on a promise to wipe out drugs. About 900 suspected drug traffickers have been killed since he came to power after winning the election on May 9.” “Philippines' Duterte threatens to quit U.N. after drugs war censure” Reuters, World News,
Duterte has proven himself to be incredibly serious, regardless of the opposition he has received because of the fact that these executions have been extra-judicial, meaning of course that these individuals have not been taken to the courts. They have not been given an opportunity to present a defense, but have been summarily executed. The Daily Mail, August 1, 2016 describes in detail the situation that presently exists in this “war on drugs” in the Philippines.
“Gunned down in the street, these are the bodies of men killed in President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on illegal drugs. Some men are seen stripped to their underwear, with their hands and feet tied. Others have their faces covered in tape or their clothes soaked with blood. Wives and family members are pictured clutching the lifeless bodies of their loved ones who were killed in the summary executions carried out by police officers, without the benefit of a full and fair trial. 'We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and the last pusher have surrendered or been put behind bars ... or below ground if you wish,' he said. Human rights groups obtained police figures that showed Mr Duterte's violent crackdown has claimed the lives of 293 suspected users and pushers in police operations between July 1 and July 24. This figure does not include drug dealers killed by vigilante groups and those working outside the law. Mr Duterte made it clear he would pardon police if they were charged with human rights violations for carrying out his merciless orders.” Sarah Dean and John Carney for Daily Mail Australia , “Harrowing pictures show the brutal truth of the Philippines' war on drugs”, August 1, 2016
These extra-judicial killings are not new in this world’s history. They have been used as a means to intimidate, grab or maintain political power of influence. Veinticinco años del informe de la Conadep reports that Argentina’s dictatorial government during the 1976-83 period used extrajudicial killings systematically as way of crushing the opposition in the so-called 'Dirty War.' The Crossfire Website reported on May 10, 2011 that Bangladeshi special security force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has long been known for extrajudicial killing. Juan de Onas, informs us in his article "U.S. Suspends New Aid to El Salvador until Deaths Are Clarified," published in the New York Times, Dec. 6, 1980, that during the Salvadoran civil war , death squads achieved notoriety when far-right vigilantes assassinated Archbishop Óscar Romero for his social activism in March 1980. More countries than you might image have been the victims of this atrocious tool. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru etc. What is new here, it would appear, is that this kind of killing is being used as a punishment for an assumed moral crime.
This is not yet the condition of the United States of America. We still embrace the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, insisted on by our founders who were adamant that there would never be a return to the corrupt justice of the land from which they came.
The Fourth Amendment
“In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.” U. S Constitution, The Fourth Amendment
What is the possibility that we would ever abandon this Amendment? Or for that matter the entire Constitution? The Great Controversy, on page 586, describing the situation that will exist in the final conflict to come says the following.
“Courts of justice are corrupt. Rulers are actuated by desire for gain, and love of sensual pleasure. Intemperance has beclouded the faculties of many, so that Satan has almost complete control of them. Jurists are perverted, bribed, deluded. Drunkenness and revelry, passion, envy, dishonesty of every sort, are represented among those who administer the laws. “Justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” [Isaiah 59:14.] {Great Controversy 586.1}
How prepared are we?
Cameron A. Bowen
