IF THERE was anything from the week past in the still unfolding surreal saga that is the Philippines in the age of Duterte that shook, even admittedly scared, me it was his unarguably historic visit to Israel.
Of course, the bizarre events that constitute the new normal for the country continued apace: There was the global Dota community mourning what seemed to be the execution by authorities of a gamer and the disappearance of another; the revocation of amnesty and order to arrest Senator Antonio Trillanes IV through Proclamation No. 572 and the subsequent scramble by government factotums, from the Secretary of Justice to the military, to justify the unjustifiable; and the murder of yet another mayor with the misfortune of landing in Duterte’s infamous “drug list” executed sans proof or trial right in his own office.
But Duterte’s Israel visit was in a totally different class of its own.
Honestly, one would think the harsh criticism by some Israeli media and the protests against his murderous anti-narcotics campaign by a section of that country’s population, including an Israeli firm’s boycott of a business forum with Duterte, would have made an impact or, at the very least, prompted some degree of introspection, given that he once compared himself to Adolf Hitler and said he himself would be “happy to slaughter” the three million drug addicts he claimed to exist in the country – this in itself a gross overestimation just as he grossly understated the number of lives, mainly Jews, claimed by the Holocaust.
But no, totally oblivious to the irony, visiting Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Duterte said: “I could not imagine a country obeying an insane leader, and I could not even fathom the spectacle of the human being going into a killing spree, murdering old men, women and children. I hope this will not happen again.”
And, he added: “There is always a lesson to learn: that despots and leaders who show insanity, they should be disposed of at the first instance.”
It was a totally schizophrenic moment. He could have been talking about himself, and not a few people wished he had, indeed, especially in the part about disposing of “despots and leaders who show insanity.”
Not even the pointed lecture from Israeli President Reuven Rivlin – “Probably you have realized yesterday the feelings when you have visited the museum of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, to really feel the atmosphere, to feel the feelings of all the people that were part of this disaster” – appeared to register with him.
At a business forum, Duterte, in the same address, went from one extreme to the other, protesting that “I have not for the life of me, ordered the killing of a particular person,” to insisting that “there is no such crime in the Revised Penal Code about what is extrajudicial killing,” and finally proclaiming, “I only kill criminals. And if you ask me now, ‘Yes, I do’.”
But perhaps what is most worrisome about Duterte’s trip to Jerusalem, a country whose government, increasingly criticized over its handling of the Palestine issue, has been less than finicky about seeking relations with tinpot despots like ours truly, is that the main purpose of the visit, going by media reports, appears to have been arms procurement. In short, the business of death.
There is no question our armed services need to modernize.
But given Duterte’s disdain for human rights and rule of law – not to mention the armed services’ own dismal record of rights violations – and Israel’s apparent willingness to overlook it to gain another ally, the prospects of such arms sales sans any conditions should concern us all.
In his talk to the Israeli businessmen, he appeared to indicate what he saw as the real problem of the country: “the most problematic also is the Filipinos itself ... There’s -- you cannot do good. It’s always wrong.”
Israel’s lethal implements may be just what someone who abhors criticism and is so used to having his way he has absolutely no qualms about bending – nay, breaking – the law might need to impose his will on an awakened populace.
But, and I believe this is far from just one man’s opinion, only if we let it.