[Excerpts from my column “HRW” last Friday]:
I looked up HRW’s screed against Duterte online, focusing on their investigation into 24 alleged EJK incidents from last October to January. I found myself agreeing with the assessment of the online NGO Monitor: “[Human Rights Watch] publications reflect the absence of professional standards, research methodologies, and military and legal expertise.”
Virtually all the victims in those 24 incidents were admitted drug pushers or users. Nobody was a blameless bystander.
An equally unsettling collection of photographs of drug victims—the babies killed, women raped, families massacred—could also be assembled. The photos [of “EJK” victims] prove nothing either way.
The HRW report makes one believe that State-sanctioned killing represents the majority—heck, maybe the entirety—of all 7,100 “EJK” incidents.
By comparison, the US State Department…cited PNP statistics that 2,155 of those incidents (less than one-third of total) were suspects killed in police operations, with the balance blamed on unknown vigilantes. It extended the blame to insurgents as well, and acknowledged “a very weak and overburdened criminal justice system”.
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[The rest of my Friday column which was unfortunately deleted by mistake]:
So in the end, what does HRW have to say about Duterte’s “criminal responsibility”?
“NO EVIDENCE thus far shows that Duterte planned or ordered specific extrajudicial killings…But Duterte’s repeated calls for killings as part of his drug campaign COULD constitute acts instigating the crime of murder. In addition, Duterte’s statements that seek to encourage vigilantes among the general population to commit violence against suspected drug users would constitute incitement to violence”.
So there you are. In the end, what upset HRW about Duterte was…too much tough talk.
There is obviously a yawning gulf between the patois of macho politicians from Davao and the polite chatter in Western salons. Perversely, though, both sides might agree on one thing: words do matter, albeit in ways different for both.
To Duterte’s credit, over a million drug users have already turned themselves in since he took office. Obviously, none of them were EJK’ed into doing so. Instead, they were “scared straight” by tough talk from someone whom they truly believed was capable of doing what he said.
What made them believe this? Maybe all those anecdotes they may have heard about this or that pusher prematurely meeting his Maker? Your guess is as good as mine.
But before we go wringing our hands endlessly like the HRW types, let’s not forget this: The most fundamental human right of all is the right of everyone to live safely and be secure against lawlessness. Defending that right can be a tricky, often dirty, matter, and certainly nothing we’re entitled to pass hasty or unthinking judgment upon.
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Here’s another game-changer from the President that, unlike his war on drugs, has received virtually unanimous applause: his comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP).
Last Friday the first part of the 3-part program was rolled out before business executives by its architects, House ways & means committee chair Congressman Dax Cua and Finance undersecretary Karl Chua. The combined ages of both these bagets types may not even reach up to mine, something that immeasurably reassured me about leaving this country to the next generation.
Obviously the reforms are mainly intended to raise more tax revenues, by hundreds of billions of pesos, all of which will be used to fund ambitious infrastructure, health and education, and social services programs. But as I sat through the presentations, I was also struck by the other major objective of this program: to transfer wealth and income, also in massive amounts, from the rich to the poor.
The data presented only confirms widespread suspicion that most of the tax evasion is actually done by the rich. The top 20% of the population gets away with not paying as much as half of what they ought to pay. The top 5% or 1% probably get away with even more than that. No wonder we don’t see too many names from the “100 richest Filipinos” list in the “Top 100 taxpayers” list.
The proposed CTRP will try to restore some justice to our taxes. Consider some of the proposed reforms which will effect income redistribution from rich to poor:
Lower the income tax rate over time to 25 percent, except for the very highest tax brackets.
Adjust the size of tax brackets for inflation. This will stop the rich from essentially getting a free ride on nominal increases in their wealth.
Higher fuel taxes will fall disproportionately on the wealthy owner of a diesel-powered SUV, compared to passenger commuters who share the fuel tax cost of a diesel-powered jeepney.
Higher auto excise taxes will fall disproportionately on wealthy owners of luxury vehicles, compared to lower-income owners of low-priced basic models.
Within the business sector, several reforms will favor the micro small and medium enterprises (MSME’s), such as allowing the very smallest ones (maximum PhP 3 Million in annual sales) to pay just an 8% gross tax in lieu of corporate income AND value-added taxes. Such reforms are also pro-poor because over 90% of the jobs in this country come from MSME’s.
The projections by our two bagets technocrats show that average after-tax incomes will actually RISE for the lower 70% of our population as a result of these reforms. On the other hand, after-tax incomes will fall for the upper 30%. Not only is this program NOT anti-poor, it’s actually “soak the rich”!
If you’re one of the leftists who’re virtually the only ones still opposing this program, I really don’t see why you can’t love it instead. If anything, Marx would probably be cheering from his grave.
Readers can write me at gbolivar1952@yahoo.com.
