Friday, November 30, 2007 Maxey: A man named Alston By Ram Maxey Bar None
AND so, it has come to pass that United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston has finally submitted to the world body his report on "extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions" in the Philippines.
I suppose many, if not most, of the UN members who have read the report will accept Alston's report as nothing less than the gospel truth. That's possible if they swallow it hook, line and sinker.
It's amazing how Alston has been able to come up with such a comprehensive report after his relatively short stay in the country. He must be a genius.
Shame on those Filipinos who have been accusing the Arroyo administration of playing deaf and dumb to the alleged extrajuducial executions reportedly committed by "state agents" but who could not produce evidence to support their claim.
They had to seek the UN's help for that, hence Alston's trip to the country. Why did it take this professor of law only such a short time to make his case against the Arroyo government while the opposition, whose membership is studded with crackerjack lawyers, has failed to preempt Alston with their own report?
Maybe they are not as smart, huh?
I don't remember Alston having been to Davao City, yet he speaks of the city like he had been here a long time and done his assignment assiduously.
In his report, Alston virtually admits that Mayor Rody Duterte "dominates the city so thoroughly as to stamp out whole genres of crime." He adds, however, that the mayor "remains powerless in the face of hundreds of murders committed by men without masks in view of witnesses."
But that's exactly what Mayor Duterte has been saying all along. Where are the witnesses so that the police could come up with suspects, make arrests and send the culprits to jail? One Manila-based TV team once came to Davao City to look into the killings and asked me if it were true that there's a reign of terror in the city.
"Yes," I replied. "There is a reign of terror here, but it's only the criminals who are terrorized." That's because Mayor Duterte had been warning criminals of all genres (kinds) to leave the city--or else. The smarter ones left, but the dumber ones didn't. Reminds me of the last line in Dr. Jose Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell)--"Morir es descansar." (To die is to rest). It doesn't pay to be dumb.
I wish Alston had been here to interview Dabawenyos on the crime situation in the city. He probably would have been shocked to be told that locals approve Duterte's style of fighting crime which has been among the factors that contributed to Davao City being cited as the most livable in the country.
No wonder Mayor Duterte has remained unbeatable each time he goes up for reelection. Winning by a margin of over 150,000 votes the last time he had a former mayor as an opponent was an emphatic statement of support for his style of governance (as in).
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, Mr. Alston.
