JEROME JALOVA 05 - 16 - 18

AB 3 – POLITICAL SCIENCE

“Oplan Tokhang” is the solution that the Duterte administration came up with as an answer
to the prevalent problem of illegal drug trafficking and drug addiction in the Philippines.
Ever since its implementation during the earliest days of the Duterte government’s term,
it has come at the cost of the deaths of thousands of citizens who had allegedly fostered
involvement with the illicit drug industry; these people were alleged to be drug traffickers
and drug users, which culminated in the end result being a complete disregard for the
concept of due process through rampant killings. These summary executions or
extrajudicial killings as they are commonly referred to, came to pass through the hand of
either alleged “Third Party Vigilantes” or the Philippine National Police (PNP) themselves
through routine anti - drug operations.

Furthermore, among the commonly occurring fatalities in the Duterte administration’s

“War on Drugs” were the youth, Kian de los Santos (17) and Carl Arnaiz (19) are only a
few of the numerous young victims. The police claim these teenagers were armed and
dangerous at the time of their encounters; this alleged “retaliation” from suspects became
a common motif for the justification of these police killings. These young lives are only a
small part of the thousands of deaths under the Duterte administration’s bloody campaign
in an attempt to provide a final solution to the drug problem that is afflicting the Philippines.

In the middle of the month of October in the year of 2017, Oplan Tokhang was put to a
halt by the Duterte administration after more than a year-long campaign that left
thousands of bodies in its wake, all the while in the end being unable to put a forth the
“final solution” to the drug problem. It was decided that the responsibility of dealing with
the issue of the illicit drug trade was transferred from the Philippine National Police (PNP)
to the Philippine Drug Administration (PDEA).

Thus, the question remains regardless of whether Oplan Tokhang can be viewed as a
viable response to the medication issue in the Philippines; this strategy by the Duterte
organization put to death a great many individuals because of charged dependence and
claimed affiliations to the illegal medication exchange It has already been proven that
incarceration for drug offenses are catalysts for the devastation of a distressed person's
way of life and general way throughout everyday life; if jail sentences for peaceful
medication guilty parties are turned out to be inadmissible arrangements, what more
could we take from actually resorting to murdering addicts as part of a social cleansing?

Oplan Tokhang does not take into consideration the factors that can make a person more
susceptible to addiction and treats the brain sickness as some sort of a sin, a criminal
offense deserving of violent death; it does not acknowledge the influence of widespread
poverty in the Philippines as a cause for addiction. The government should first take the
necessary steps to address the issues rooted with the system that further worsens the
situation of income inequality in the country; the advent of national industrialization and
genuine agrarian reform must take priority to lift the economical disparage. Addressing
the problems with poverty is an effective prevention method to alleviate the drug problem;
the government should be championing economical reforms that benefit the majority, not
enact polices that further widen the gap between the rich and the poor.

As a last appraisal, Oplan Tokhang as a measure to counter the developing medication

issue in the Philippines is an entire and articulate disappointment. This grave misstep
originated from the absence of comprehension of the medication issue's many-sided
quality and the extremist view of the administration to the factors that are included with
sedate dependence. It is a totally erratic strategy that prompted the passings of thousands
of overwhelmingly poor nationals without demonstrating genuine outcomes in easing the
predicament. It has just been demonstrated that the "War on Drugs" show protected by
Richard Nixon of the United States in 1971 does not work and will never work; it is an
inconceivability to win a war on destroying drug supply as unlawful medications will
dependably be fabricated at a higher quality and speedier rate. Duterte's form of this
medication war isn't just less powerful however more inclined to human rights
infringement and for the most part spreading human hopelessness everywhere
throughout the nation.

Drug addicts should never be treated as criminals unless they participate in violent acts;
these individuals should instead be perceived as patients in need of proper medical
treatment; effective rehabilitation methods always be put in the forefront of any policy that
concerns the problem with illicit drugs. Addiction is a brain illness that arises from genetic
and environmental factors and should be treated as such; capital punishment should
never be an option to address this dilemma, even more so the type of death that is
administered through illegal means.