NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 25 February) – The country has long abolished the death penalty even for heinous crimes. We wonder why former President Rodrigo Duterte, instead of upholding the law, encouraged and made it a state policy to kill drug personalities, particularly suspected drug pushers.

So during his reign, the streets were littered with victims of extra-judicial killing executed by law enforcers themselves and vigilantes, civilians who responded to his killing call.

He promised to kill and delivered.

Avid Digong Duterte supporters (DDS) defended his murder of drug suspects as a necessity to clean and secure communities from the deadly scums of the earth.

They say it is easy to uphold the rule of law for those who are not directly affected. But if your daughter or sister is raped and killed by drug addicts, who cares about due process?

If we turn a blind eye to this thinking, we will be in an endless cycle of violence. Our justice system becomes meaningless, and we’ll go nowhere.

For some time, the law of vengeance – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth – was indirectly promoted and had prevailed.

Rewards were handed to those who responded to his killing call. Thus, there was a killing rampage here and there. Government records reached a tally of over 6,000 victims.

Crime Watch estimated 30,000 lives that were snuffed out by the war on drugs.

Duterte is now in the custody of the International Criminal Court at The Hague to face trial for his crimes against humanity.

The case is Duterte vs. Mankind, which means Duterte against all the citizens of the world, including those still unborn.

A sensational case, indeed, that will highlight the Philippines on the world map.

Thanks to Tatay Digong.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)