Why the silence despite the killings
The silence of the great majority on the war on drugs just reflects the attitude that “at least the President is achieving good results.” This is quite loaded. It connotes the incompetence of a string of past administrations to solve the problem. With it is also was our (the public’s) failure to make those past administrations accountable for being remiss in assuring our safety from addicts who committed heinous or really evil crimes as if these were just stealing peanuts from a sidewalk vendor.
Then there is the expected continuing institutional inefficiency of the judiciary. It had been going on since this country became one that nobody can confidently say those drug lords who are now in jail will not go scot free once President Du30 is out of office. They surely can buy their way out, or kill their way out.
Can these drug lords outlast Du30? Definitely. Practicing lawyers can think of many ways to delay the judicial process until the term of the President expires, then they will find their way out. If not, they will live like kings in “Bilibid.” They would then be able to go out anytime, literally, as long as they grease some hands. It will entail some big money but they will have these and a lot more. Drug money means lots of big money.
In short, their battle cry now is “weather weather lang” or “pana panahon lang.” They are practically saying, “It is your time President Du30. But you only have six years. After that it will again be our time.”
So what would an ordinary citizen choose given these two options? It might be better to gun all those drug lords down. Of course there will be, as there are already, many “collateral damage” who should not have been gunned down. And if you have a modicum of humanity in you, you certainly would become a staunch advocate against the extrajudicial killings now going on everywhere.
But here we are, with this tight conundrum we have to get out from. And the vast majority choose to just keep their counsel or their peace.**