In war vs youth offenders, Duterte reaches for the shotgun
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Another Duterte at the City Council
Alma Doysabas, advocacy officer of Tambayan Center, a nongovernment group that runs a halfway house for juvenile delinquents, criticized the creation of the Anti-Hoodlum Unit, saying such a tough approach to crime and juvenile delinquency is hardly the solution. “What do they think of a shotgun? Good lord!” she said.
Calling minors “hoodlum” won’t help either, Doysabas said. “Labeling minor offenders as hoodlums has a negative effect on their persons. They would tend to see themselves the way authorities and society consider them,” Doysabas explained. “Instead of giving them hope, for them to see and believe that they can still reform their ways, change their lives and grow, they would tend to think they are hopeless cases as they are already discriminated.”
Doysabas said even requiring people to show their birth certificates to prove they are not minors is “unfair” as many Filipinos, especially in poor communities, do not keep records of birth certificates in their homes.
Already, she said, there have been reports of men prowling the city streets at night, targetting youths in the streets. These men are on board Lawin jeepneys, clad in fatigues, black long sleeves, leather bels, even gloves and bonnets, according to Doysabas. The men, she said, are usually armed with rattan whips and baseball bats. Incidents of harassment of minors by these men have happened in Bankerohan, Boulevard and Agdao, Doysabas told davaotoday.com.
Councilor Angela Librado-Trinidad, chairperson of the council’s committee on Women and Children and Family Relations, said gangsterism is a social problem, not a police problem and that these needs to be addressed comprehensively.
Doysabas said that instead of sending out armed men to crack down on young people in the streets, the city should implement the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law, which provides for a so-called restorative, instead of punitive, system in dealing with children in conflict with the law. Duterte has time and again called this law “stupid” and that it gets in his way of keeping the city free of crime.
“What we are hoping is for authorities to dig deeper into the causes” of juvenile delinquency, Doysabas said. “We hope they would try to understand the problem.”
For one, Doysabas said her group has found out that, in most cases, children involved in gangs have histories of abuses in their very homes. “Their tendency is to get out of their homes and find solace somewhere,” she said. “They eventually find their way into the company of fellow youths. If no one would be able to guide their ways, and if what they could see around are adults in their communities who are also involved in wrongdoings and, worst, are abusive to them, they intend to follow what they see.”
And if government is “reactive” in trying to solve the problem — by enforcing means that are physical and confrontational that hardly instill respect for authorities — these minors are more likely to rebel, thus the vicious cycle,” Doysabas said.
But Duterte shot back at his critics. “What do you want me to call them if not criminals?” he asked in his television program last Sunday. He said he considers people who hurt, rob, and rape as criminals, regardless of age. “If not a criminal, if not a hoodlum, then what are they? Angels?” Duterte said.
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July 19th, 2007 at 4:35 am
I’ve heard of Mayor Duterte of Davao from a very good journalist friend of national standing who recently passed away. Said friend was an avid supporter of the Davao mayor’s “Dirty Harry” approach to solving the city’s crimes.
While I believe that a tough stance against criminality is the call of the chief executive of Davao, there can be no debate that it IS definitely criminal to even remotely consider the murder of erring individuals, taxi drivers, even if they are thieves and worse, the killings of juvenile delinquents, victims of summary executions by the Davao Death Squad.
Summary executions do not have a place in any society. People who order summary executions, particularly of juvenile delinquents or street children should be brought before the International Criminal Tribunal to be judged for crimes against humanity. (Read Father Shay Cullen’s article in PREDA and reports by Carlos H. Conde.)
The barbarism with which Mayor Duterte (who looks like a criminal himself) wants to instill law and order in the city by openly endorsing killings, to my mind is already a violation of the basic human rights of his adult victims but that he should make it his rule of law to shoot juvenile delinquents, even taxi drivers who overcharge passengers with a shotgun is not only brutal but points to the mayor’s mental state - he is mentally deranged!
I wonder if this man happens to know that in this day and age, people, never mind if they have been elected the chief executive of their villages, their cities, their regions or their nations, can’t go about shooting people!
I don’t have to lecture Mayor Duterte about the various socio-political ways and means that he could adopt to bring about law and order in his city more humanely. Surely this man must possess a minimum of intellect, a minimum of decency, enough doze of charity in his heart to find the right balance. I don’t believe Mayor Duterte is so debilitated not to realize that The Davao Death Squad of which he is, I suspect, the de facto organizer and main cheerleader is not the answer to eliminating poverty which is one of the main root causes of juvenile delinquency.
Either he stops this insanity and finds ways and means to deal humanely with the erring and even criminal elements of his city or he should be brought to justice. Should that fail, the good and the remaining morally upright citizens of Davao must not hesitate to hang him from the highest lamppost! The souls of his murdered victims can then rest in peace.
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I have to agree with the mayor. NO room for these kind of people. Even though, I live in the US and not Filipino, I have seen over here how groups that are not tough on crime mess up societies. All I can say is Mayor Duterte is right. People who go against the law and the law is one that protects the people have no room in society.
August 1st, 2007 at 9:38 am
A lot of people support him. That’s why he always wins in the elections. If you don’t agree with what he’s doing, try running for mayor and let’s see what you can do. I doubt it if you can even up his achievements. He’s damn good.
August 11th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
where is the wife of mayor duterte?she was never mentioned on any news. is she still alive and well?
August 27th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Mayor Duterte, should be cited as an example by other Mayor in the Philippines.
I can go along Davao City not fearing someone will snatch my pricey cellphone, or my wife jewelry.
To those human rights advocates, Davao City is not a place for you. You are only concerned with Human rights of criminals not the rights of the victims.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:52 am
Let’s say for discussion sake - that Duterte’s approach brings out results. What will happen after Duterte dies - just like everyone else. Look for another Duterte-like figure?
As long as widespread poverty exists - hoodlums and gangsterism will be there. So given that scene - shall we just keep on going for quick fixes and keep on riding shotgun? Davao has been doing the tough-guy approach all these years - it might appear that it works better when compared to other cities. However, has it really worked for Davao in the sense that the killings eliminate crime - or has it whitewashed Davao’s incapacity to create a better climate for children?
So shall Davao keep on shooting whatever and whoever till kingdom come - is this the only solution that Davao is capable of?
Is this an admission that Davao is totally incapable of providing and developing an environment which proactively addresses gangsterism?
How about if those councilor put their pork barrel where their mouth is - more schools, more playground, more books, more teachers.
As the saying goes - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Has Davao lost its moral bearings?