VIGILANTES CONTINUE TO CARRY OUT EXECUTIONS OF PEOPLE THAT THEY
SUSPECT TO BE DRUG DEALERS AND LAWBREAKERS, AND PART OF THE
PROBLEM IS THE NEW LEADER OF THE PHILIPPINES ñ OF ñ THE NEW
LEADER OF THE PHILIPPINES, RODRIGO DUTERTE, IS VERY
MUCH IN FAVOR OF THAT BEHAVIOR.
IN FACT, RECENTLY HE MADE SOME QUESTIONABLE STATEMENTS
ABOUT WHO ñ ABOUT HOW HE HIMSELF WENT AFTER PEOPLE, AND
KILLED THEM WITHOUT ANY TYPE OF TRIAL, OR ANY TYPE OF
INVESTIGATION; JUST BECAUSE HE MERELY SUSPECTED THEM OF
BEING INVOLVED IN CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR.
HE SAID THE FOLLOWING, "IN DAVAO I USED TO DO IT PERSONALLY.
JUST TO SHOW TO THE GUYS, POLICE, THAT IF I CAN DO
IT, WHY CAN'T YOU?
AND I WOULD GO AROUND IN DAVAO WITH A MOTORCYCLE, WITH A
BIG BIKE AROUND, AND I WOULD JUST PATROL THE STREETS
LOOKING FOR TROUBLE.
I WAS LOOKING FOR CONFRONTATION SO I COULD KILL."
BY THE WAY, THIS IS HIS STATEMENT.
I AM QUOTING HIM.
I HAVE NEVER HEARD A LEADER TALK LIKE THAT BEFORE, BECAUSE
MOST LEADERS ARE SAVVY ENOUGH TO NOT SAY THAT SO THAT THEY
WOULD HAVE TO APPEAR IN FRONT OF THE INTERNATIONAL APPEALS COURT.
OR ANOTHER LEADER WILL COME IN AND SAY, I WANT TO DO
SOMETHING ABOUT THIS.
ISN'T IT FUNNY HOW THE GUYS WHO ALWAYS SAY THEY ARE IN
FAVOR OF THE RULE OF LAW, BRAG ABOUT BREAKING THE LAW?
YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SUMMARILY EXECUTE PEOPLE.
IN THE PHILIPPINES, LIKE IN ALMOST EVERY OTHER COUNTRY,
YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO ARREST THEM, TAKE THEM TO JAIL, BRING
THEM TO COURT AND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE, ETC.
AND THE REASON YOU DO THAT IS BECAUSE YOU CAN'T JUST GO
AROUND KILLING PEOPLE THAT YOU SUSPECT OF BREAKING THE LAW.
NEED TO GO THROUGH A TRIAL, PROVIDE EVIDENCE, AND MAKE
SURE THAT YOU PROVE THAT THAT PERSON IS GUILTY BEFORE ANY
FORM OF JUSTICE OR SENTENCE IS CARRIED OUT.
YOU CAN JUST GO AROUND SHOOTING PEOPLE THAT YOU ASK ñ
THAT YOU SUSPECT OF DOING ANYTHING WRONG.
AND THIS WAS EVEN SLIGHTLY WORSE, BECAUSE HE SAID HE WAS
LOOKING FORWARD TO CONFRONTATION SO THAT HE COULD KILL PEOPLE.
IT'S INSANE.
IN 2015 HE ADMITTED TO KILLING AT LEAST THREE MEN SUSPECTED OF
KIDNAPPING AND RAPE IN DAVAO.
AGAIN, THOSE ARE TERRIBLE CRIMES, AND ANYONE WHO COMMITS A
CRIME SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE, BUT AGAIN ñ BUT AGAIN,
IF YOU DON'T KNOW FOR SURE IF SOMEONE HAS DONE ñ IF YOU DON'T
KNOW IF SOMEONE HAS DONE IT, IF THEY ARE BEING ACCUSED, YOU
NEED TO INVESTIGATE IT.
THIS IS CRAZY.
NEARLY 6000 PEOPLE ARE SAID TO HAVE BEEN KILLED BY POLICE,
VIGILANTES AND MERCENARIES, SINCE DUTERTE LAUNCHED HIS
DRUG WAR AFTER BEING ELECTED IN MAY.
THE DRUG WAR PART OF THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT, BECAUSE HE IS
AGGRESSIVELY GOING AFTER DRUG TRAFFICKERS, DRUG USERS, AND I'M
SORRY, I JUST DISAGREE THAT DRUGS EVER WARRANT THE DEATH
PENALTY.
UNLESS YOU ARE KILLING PEOPLE WHEN YOU ARE TRAFFICKING
DRUGS, AND EVEN THEN YOU NEED TO BRING THESE PEOPLE TO COURT,
AND THEY NEED TO FACE TRIAL SO YOU CAN PROVE THEY ARE GUILTY.
BUT AGAIN, AS ALWAYS WITH DUTERTE, IT'S EVEN WORSE
THAN THAT.
BECAUSE HE'S NOT TALKING ABOUT KILLING DRUG DEALERS, HE'S
TALKING ABOUT KILLING PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS.
LET ME GIVE YOU THE LAST QUOTE HERE FROM TRAFFIC 19.
HE SAID, "HITLER MASSACRED 3 MILLION JEWS.
THERE'S 3 MILLION DRUG ADDICTS.
I'D BE HAPPY TO SLAUGHTER THEM."
HAPPY TO SLAUGHTER 3
MILLION PEOPLE USING DRUGS, NOT DEALING DRUGS.
THINK ABOUT THAT IN OUR CONTEXT, WHERE WE ARE DEALING WITH A
HUGE HEROIN EPIDEMIC.
AND THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE ADDICTED TO HEROIN BECAUSE
THEY WERE PRESCRIBED PAINKILLERS AFTER THEY WERE INJURED, OR
HAD SURGERY.
THEY ARE NOT BAD PEOPLE, THEY HAPPENED TO GET ADDICTED TO
A HIGHLY ADDICTIVE DRUG THAT THEY WERE PRESCRIBED BY
THEIR DOCTORS.
AND SO WHAT DO WE DO?
DO WE RUN AROUND AND MURDER THEM?
DO WE SLAUGHTER THEM?
IS THIS WHAT WE DO TO PEOPLE WHO ARE ADDICTED TO DRUGS?
THIS IS A BAD, BAD GUYS, AND I THINK HE IS SYMBOLIC ABOUT
ñ SYMBOLIC OF WHAT'S HAPPENING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD RIGHT NOW.
THERE'S THIS WEIRD CONSERVATIVE STREAK, AND I DON'T KNOW, I
DON'T KNOW WHY ANYONE WOULD VOTE THIS KIND OF PERSON INTO OFFICE.
KNOW I DO, AND I DON'T THINK IT'S THE SUPER CONSERVATIVE
STREAK, TO BE HONEST, I THINK IT'S A POPULISM STREAK.
AND POPULISM CAN GO VERY RIGHT, LIKE WITH FDR, HOW HE FIXED THE
MIDDLE CLASS, OR YOU CAN GO VERY WRONG, AND USUALLY THAT'S WITH
THE RIGHT WING.
I'M GOING TO KEEP IT REAL HERE, LIKE WITH THE IMF, THE IMF DOES
GOOD THINGS AND SOME BAD THINGS, BUT THERE IS THIS SYSTEM THAT IS
PUT INTO PLACE, AND YOU MUST FOLLOW THESE RULES, AND
SOMEHOW ALL THE MONEY WINDS UP AT THE TOP, AND ALL THE
INJUSTICE AND POVERTY, ETC.,
WINDS UP WITH THE GREAT MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ACROSS THE WORLD.
SO THEY GET MORE AND MORE FRUSTRATED, AND IN THAT
FRUSTRATION WHAT DO THEY DO?
THEY ARE EITHER GOING TO GO POPULIST LEFT, OR POPULOUS
RIGHT.
BY THE WAY, WHEN THEY GO POPULIST LEFT, THAT'S WHEN THEY
ARE CRUSHED EVEN MORE, BECAUSE THAT'S WHEN THEY MIGHT TRY TO
PROTECT THE MONEY OF THEIR PEOPLE, IN WHICH CASE THE
GLOBAL INTERESTS GO, NO!
NO NO NO.
YOU NEED A RIGHT-WING DICTATOR, AND THEN THEY ARE JUST
KILLING PEOPLE.
ñ DO I STILL GET TO KEEP MY MONEY?
GREAT, YOU GET TO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.
SO IT'S A SCAPEGOATING.
YOU THINK THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IN THE PHILIPPINES AS TO WHY
THERE'S POVERTY AND CORRUPTION IS BECAUSE OF DRUG USERS?
OF COURSE NOT.
WHAT IS HE DOING?
YOU TO DIRECT YOUR FRUSTRATION AND ANGER TO THE MOST POWERLESS
PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO SCREWED YOU OVER IN
THE FIRST PLACE, WHO ARE THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE
COUNTRY.
AND YOU MIGHT THINK, THIS DUTERTE TALKS A BIG GAME,
AND LIKE OTHER PEOPLE WE KNOW IN OTHER COUNTRIES, HE IS
CONSTANTLY CONTRADICTING HIMSELF.
HE RECENTLY SAID, "I AM NOT A KILLER."
HE WAS GETTING AN AWARD IN THE PHILIPPINES, OR WAS GIVING
A SPEECH AT A CEREMONY, BUT NO, THERE ARE WITNESSES.
THERE IS A FORMER SELF-CONFESSED MEMBER OF A DEATH SQUAD WHO SAID
THAT HE SAW HIM, WHILE HE WAS DAVAO MAYOR, SHOOT A
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AGENT.
NOT A DRUG DEALER, NOT A DRUG USER, A JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
AGENT, WITH AN UZI; MURDERED HIM ON THE SPOT.
AND THIS GUY IS IN CHARGE OF THE COUNTRY.
ONE LAST THING, IF YOU ARE IN THE PHILIPPINES WERE
ANOTHER PLACE LIKE THIS, YOU ARE TELLING THE WORLD, DON'T
COME TO OUR COUNTRY.
SO IT'S VERY DAMAGING TO PEOPLE LIVING IN THE PHILIPPINES,
BUT IT'S ALSO VERY DAMAGING TO TOURISM AND THE ECONOMY, ETC.
I'M NOT GOING TO GO TO THE PHILIPPINES, THERE IS NO
LAW THERE.
IT'S LAWLESSNESS, IT'S CHAOS.
IT'S JUST A GUY WHO DECIDES WHO LIVES AND WHO DIES.
DON'T GET ME WRONG, THE PHILIPPINES IS NOT THE ONLY
PLACE THAT SUFFERS FROM THIS.
I'M NOT GOING TO GO TO A LOT OF THE GULF COUNTRIES THAT ARE
RULED LIKE THIS.
BUT TODAY I WAS RECONSIDERING EVER GOING TO MILWAUKEE.
THERE'S A GUY THERE NAMED SHARE OF DAVID CLARK, PEOPLE HAVE
DIED IN HIS PRESENCE LEFT AND RIGHT BECAUSE HE REFUSES TO
GET THE MEDICAL TREATMENT.
SO THAT MAKES ME THINK, DO I WANT TO GO TO MILWAUKEE,
WHERE I HAVE A MAD MAN IN CHARGE OF THE POLICE THERE?
PROBABLY NOT.
SO, IT'S HAPPENING ALL ACROSS THE WORLD.
WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE THE SYSTEM IS CROSSING YOU, IT IS THE
POWERLESS THAT ARE DOING IT, IT'S THE POWERFUL THAT ARE
DOING IT.
DON'T GO RIGHT, WHEN YOU GO RIGHT ALL YOU GET IS MORE
DEATH, AND MORE SYSTEMATIC INJUSTICE.