The (Im)moral Justifications of Duterte’s Anti-drug war

(Reaction Paper)

Duterte, a selfless and fearless president that we all know has high authority and should be
respected. Through out the reign of Duterte, a lot of events happened that affected each and every
person especially here in the Philippines. These events brought memories that each person will
implant in their hearts and will be remembered through generations. One of these events that
happen that we will all remember is Duterte’s war on drugs. Being able to experience or listen to
these events everyday put an impression in my heart from the war to the killing itself. Before
understanding each of Duterte’s action we have to be able to understand these different definitions:
Human rights to utilitarian doctrine, self defense and incorporate these with the bible.

In the start of the article a quotation made by Trevor Phillips was stated that “Human Rights
are not worthy of the name if they do not protect the people we don’t like as well as those we do”.
Based from this quotation I have understand that there are two types of people; the one who
understand outside the box and those people who think literally. In my Opinion this statement
means that people misunderstand the word human rights. Human rights are not a regime or an
excuse for the people to do whatever they want. Human rights should be a benefit for you, me and
everyone whatever your status is in life. The reason why human rights are misused because people
understand a different concept from the human rights of Duterte. From Duterte’s SONA he stated
that “Human rights must work to uplift human dignity. But human rights cannot be used as a shield
or an excuse to destroy the country-your country and my country” These two statements contrast
with each other which I’m able to conclude that what people understand is very different from
Duterte. To be able to know the good of things we must understand and encrypt each of every
word. This article taught me two things misuse/misunderstanding and the justifications that can be
incorporated with the bible

The Utilitarian doctrine. In the start of the paragraph it is stated that Duterte never explicitly
explained his rationale for mass killing and it is also stated that Duterte is willing to kill. This
statement in my understanding was concluded from his statement “kung hindi ka handing pumatay
o mamatay, hindi ka pwedeng mag presidente” but for me this statement symbolizes his authority,
respect and how he is fearless. The killing(pumatay) in this statement can mean two things; killing
a person (literally) and/or Killing anything (an occasion) for the betterment of the people that he
rules on. From Duterte’s world view it is stated that “I have seen how illegal drugs destroyed
individuals and ruined families” I can see that the “pumatay(killing)” in his statement means how
he want to kill drugs (the event) not the people themselves. To justify my reasoning, we all know
that before this war happened, he asked these persona to surrender giving them