THE initials KKK have a hallowed meaning in Philippine history. Every Filipino student learn to memorize what it stands for.
First, we hear of Andres Bonifacio and the “Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangan, Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan,” shortened to “Katipunan” or KKK.
Then there’s the KKK of the late President Ferdinand Marcos with his “Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran,” or Movement for Livelihood and Progress. Perhaps only baby boomers can recall that.
Supposedly, Marcos’ KKK seeks to develop small industries and projects for the poor. The poor are still around while other Southeast Asian countries have reduced their poverty-stricken poor.
One of my favorite childhood stories was of Robin Hood and his merry band of robbers. I rooted for this hood because he “robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.” I sympathized with his plunder of his rich victims to give to the poor.
Now as an officer of the court, I took a dim view of this philosophy. It’s abetting a crime to solve a social-economic problem. No court of law will accept a defense of poverty for justifying a crime against property.
Now comes President Rodrigo Duterte with his KKK. His KKK can stand for Kill! Kill! Kill! He admitted that around 600 people were killed during his 23-year reign Davao City mayor, deaths that he considers an “investment.”
“Many of the things you heard about Davao were about extrajudicial killings, but look at Davao. I invested a lot. Lives? Yes. You have to kill to make your city peaceful.” But he insisted, “In my 23 years as a mayor, I can say around 600 (were killed), but I assure you it was all legitimate.”
For him, the government could not enforce the law without killings, and he pointed that these deaths were for the poor. “It’s okay to say they were killed. You cannot enforce the law without...It’s for the poor. The poor are mad at me, but what they didn’t know is it’s they. I’m trying to save their skin.”
Duterte said that there were people who should be kept alive while there were others who should be killed especially if they offered violent resistance to security forces.
The President, however, emphasized that he had not ordered the harming of anyone who was already kneeling or begging for his life, saying this was not manly to do.
“I never ordered the killing of anybody kneeling before me. I never harmed anybody, even the toughest idiot or criminal, with his arms outstretched. I never do that because I’m not a man if I do that,” he said.
In 2016, Duterte advised law enforcement agencies to plant guns to show that drug suspects resisted arrest. Police have described those who resist as “nanlaban,” most of whom have been shot dead.
“I said, O sir, if they are there, destroy them also. Especially if they put up a good fight. O ‘pag walang baril, walang—bigyan mo ng baril,” Duterte said.
Whew, how many lawyers, prosecutors and agree, agree to Duterte’s KKK? Violate the law in order to defend it.
(bqsanc@yahoomail.com)