Chapter 14: Unnamed
Violence has always subsisted on the meal plans of the government. The government follows a rigid diet of uniforms, guns, and harassment that it might as well go with a side of chilli and a glass of Coca Cola.
Usually and unsurprisingly, it starts with the voice of the bazooka-mouthed president cultured in killing every time he speaks before a national microphone. In early April, he told the police and military to 'shoot them dead.' (By them, he meant anyone who'd create trouble during the quarantine period.) He justifies the use of violence with a host of ridiculous reasons which many DDS with their penchant for constant denial of government incompetence willingly bite like well-trained bitches.
I remember I've seen posts on Facebook couched in defending human rights violations, anchoring their reasons on the president's 'shoot them dead' drunk speech always televised at a time when vast majority are already snoring on their beds. They pathologise victims of assault, mostly the poor who are particularly demonised for their choice to survive. They say the punishment meted out by the authorities are correct as they green-light sentiments on their Facebook accounts that blame the poor for going out, for being hardheaded, for disobeying unclear public health directives, for not listening to the president, and of course for choosing to be poor.
At all costs, they'd singlehandedly water-cannon an obvious foul smell of human rights violations to save and perfume the image of an evil man.
The thing is language and the weight it bears are a plaything to Duterte and his zealous cohorts. Every time the president speaks of violence, consequences follow. It trickles down until violence becomes multiplicative, hydra-headed. They don't understand that mouthing and ordering threats on national television, watched by millions of Filipinos, could inspire untoward acts on human rights that could breed unnecessary deaths, like the farmer shot dead in Agusan del Norte and recently a retired soldier shot in Quezon City. If the head wishes, the body commands. And if violence is the order, then violence is the version of quarantine pass of men in uniform to kill.
Up to this point, I don't understand why many still believe in Duterte's administration. I'm not sure if they don't read, or analyse what they read, or put their pride down for mis-voting a man who was supposed to be the promised one, or have been hollowed out of their conscience, or they're just plain stupid.
Or maybe they don't understand that when the virus halts to an end, the poor will have died of hunger and police shooting than of the virus itself, while the rich who have cars to hospitals, immediate testing, canned goods in their cupboards, drinks on their tables, stockpile of fruits in their fridges, beds on their backs, phones to kill boredom, will have wandered their expensive worlds freely, hugged with compassion and mercy, especially if they wear the badge of being a senator.
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