Corrupt Justice – part 2
TimeWatch Editorial
September 09, 2016
In our last editorial, we looked at what is happening in the Philippines and their “war on drugs.” Sarah Dean and John Carney writing for the Daily Mail Australia said the following.
“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.” John Carney for Daily Mail Australia , “Harrowing pictures show the brutal truth of the Philippines' war on drugs”, August 1, 2016
This business of killing suspected drug dealers without proper judicial process has caused many questions to be asked. At the recent G20 meeting held in China, the matter was cause for a question from the press. Duterte was asked what he would say to President Obama when asked about the killings. His response is recorded on Quartz website, in an article published , by Steve Mollman . The title of the article contains a derogatory term; however the title begins this way: Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte picked the wrong week to call Barack Obama a _______. Here is what he said.
“I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions.” , by Steve Mollman
In the same article, Steve Mollman informs us that “More than 2,400 alleged drug criminals have been killed in the Philippines since Duterte launched the violent campaign over two months ago. Police are behind about a thousand of those, but vigilantes—encouraged by Duterte—are behind many of the rest.”
Reuters reports in an article entitled “We are not butchers': Philippines defends drug war at Asian summit” published on Tuesday September 6, 2016.
“The Philippines on Tuesday defended a surge in killings since Rodrigo Duterte became president over two months ago, handing out a 38-page pamphlet at a regional summit praising his campaign against illegal drugs in which thousands have died. "We are not butchers who just kill people for no apparent reason," reads one page of the booklet, citing the Philippines' feisty national police chief, Ronald Dela Rosa. Duterte swept to power in May on promises to wipe out crime and corruption within six months, pledging to wage a war on drug dealers and crush widespread addiction to methamphetamines in the country of 100 million. There has been popular support for Duterte's campaign but the killings have brought expressions of concern from the United States, a close Philippine ally, and the United Nations.” “We are not butchers': Philippines defends drug war at Asian summit” Tuesday September 6, 2016.
There are those who truly admire Duterte’s new method of fighting the drug culture. An article published on September 7 2016 entitled: “Indonesian anti-drugs chief supports implementing Rodrigo Duterte's Philippine-style drug war” says:
Indonesia's anti-drugs chief has supported implementing a bloody crackdown on traffickers like the war on crime in the Philippines that has left thousands dead. Budi Waseso, the tough-talking anti-drugs tsar who once proposed holding death row traffickers on a prison island guarded by crocodiles, said he believed such a campaign would safeguard "our beloved country". "I would be on the frontline to eradicate all the traffickers," he said.” “Indonesian anti-drugs chief supports implementing Rodrigo Duterte's Philippine-style drug war”
Another article in Time website, written by Kevin Lui entitled; “Indonesia’s Drug Czar Is Buying Up Weapons After Saying He Wants a Duterte-Style Drug War” says the following:
“Indonesia’s antinarcotics agency is on a shopping spree for weapons and intelligence tools as it prepares to ramp up its crackdown on drug trafficking. Budi Waseso, head of the country’s National Narcotics Agency (BNN), said that this was to match the firepower wielded by some of country’s drug gangs, reports the Jakarta Post . “We should modernize our equipment since our enemies are drug dealers who have different capabilities,” said Budi, according to the Post. The announcement came on the heels of comments made by Budi at a BNN press conference, seemingly calling on the country to follow the ruthless path pursued by the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and start its own drug war, as the BBC reports.” Kevin Lui, “Indonesia’s Drug Czar Is Buying Up Weapons After Saying He Wants a Duterte-Style Drug War” Time Website, September 8, 2016
Perhaps the most accurate description of our time is found in Testimonies Volume 9, page 11:
“The condition of things in the world shows that troublous times are right upon us. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible conflict in the near future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species of evil prevails. The enemy has succeeded in perverting justice and in filling men's hearts with the desire for selfish gain. "Justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." Isaiah 59:14. {Testimonies vol 9, page 11.3}
The process has surely begun.
Cameron A. Bowen
