Excerpts from “The Essential Philippine Story”

Written by Charles Avila in 2020

Excerpts from “The Essential Philippine Story”

Written by Charles Avila in 2020 for “The Gardener’s Tales” and several other local and international social and mainstream media outlets.

This is being re-published in response (and as a reminder) to many who asked why former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa-Duterte was arrested today, March 11th 2025 and charged with crimes against humanity. Five years elapsed between this original report and today’s event.

A China-Duterte Dictatorship?

More than 30 years after People Power toppled down the U.S.- Marcos dictatorship, a new authoritarianism looms in the horizon. This time it is not U.S.-backed.

The dictatorship-in-progress is called “the CDD” or “the China-Duterte Dictatorship.”

In his time, the dictator Marcos started off with closing down media, incarcerating people, announcing the latter activity in slow motion for effect, and dramatizing the public execution of a convicted drug lord to get everybody scared.

He then proceeded to rule by decree, i.e., he became dictator, but always denied before international audiences any responsibility for the systematic violation of human rights, the arbitrary detentions, the tortures and the “salvagings” or extra-judicial killings.

The Marcos dictatorship could not do without American backing; so, Marcos had to design and follow an ostensibly democratic script with the trappings of mock elections and rubber stamp legislatures, even to the point, years later, of “lifting martial law” lest the liberal American media swamp their conservative rulers with pressures to abandon him as they earlier did in the case of the South Vietnamese government.

The Duterte Style

Mr. Duterte’s style is different. Instead of executing a convicted drug lord, he declared a “war on drugs” and publicly assured the police that he would back them up for killings they committed “in line of duty,” killings he publicly encouraged them to undertake – resulting to date, according to most estimates, in more than 30,000 deaths and an atmosphere of fear beyond the “war zones.”

On 21st November 2001, Archbishop Fernando R. Capalla of Davao City, issued a Pastoral Letter entitled “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” The letter was occasioned by the rampant extrajudicial killings in the city governed by Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

The existence of a DDS or Davao Death Squad was common knowledge in the community, moving the archbishop to append an oratio imperata or mandated prayer for use by his flock. The mandated prayer was for peace and to stop the killings.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said the killings were justified because law enforcers helping him in his war on drugs have the right to “self-defence.”

Thus, DDS victims were uniformly portrayed as persons who were killed while “resisting lawful authority” by persons supposedly in authority who had to kill them in exercise of their right of self-defence.

The Mayor Becomes President

In 2016, the mayor became President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD). He immediately extended to the whole Philippines this so-called “war on drugs” that had served him well in making people fear what he could or could not do. In the face of that fear, Duterte could act like a dictator.

He publicly assured the police not to worry about possible cases that may be lodged against them by morally scrupulous or legally-minded citizens because he would be personally behind them, protecting them all the way.

Also immediately, Duterte appointed his erstwhile City Police Chief, General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa to head the national police, and hit the ground running in the matter of extra-judicial killings. “Bato”, incredibly, has now become a Senator of the Republic.

On July 1st 2016, within two weeks from the start of the Duterte presidency, the Bato police leadership promulgated an “Anti-Illegal Drugs Campaign Plan – Project ‘Double Barrel.’”

The project’s other name was “PNP CMC 16-2016,” which means “the Command Memorandum Circular or CMC order” that enabled even sensitive policemen and women to overcome their bashfulness, and welcome, if not participate wholeheartedly, in the extra-judicial killing spree.

License to Kill

The command memorandum circular authorizes the “neutralization” of “high value and street level targets” including their protectors and supporters.

Words, dangerous words: in times past, we used the word “injustice,” but now it is called “reciprocity imbalance.”

In times past, we used the word “killing” but now it is referred to as “neutralization” – the easier for us to get confused, if not totally deceived.

Part of “Project: Double Barrel” is Oplan or Operation Plan “Tokhang” - a term from the Pilipino word “to knock on doors.” It is a house-to-house campaign allegedly aimed at clearing neighborhoods of illegal drug activity.

The Circular authorizes uninvited visits by the police to private houses purportedly to persuade “targets” to desist from their “illegal activities.”

All who show resistance during these visits are “legally neutralized,” – in other words, “murdered.” But many others who could not be said in any manner to have shown any resistance were killed anyway for purposes of meeting certain murder quotas. Then the report would be made on the victims having resisted legal authority.

In what ways can they be said to have been resisting authority? It is too late to hear their side. They are too dead to talk now.

Those who “surrender” may be allowed to live by filling in “voluntary surrender forms” and in effect making devastating dossiers against themselves that later or sooner will be used against them – or, even immediately, for “petty cash-raising purposes.”

Members of the Philippine National Police and those of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency have started shooting each other to death over who gets more share of the petty cash. And the Secretary of Justice has openly admitted that not everything is fine and fair with these agencies.

When accused during the election campaign that under his watch as mayor of Davao more than a thousand had fallen victim to extrajudicial killing, Duterte proudly replied and promised that if elected president, ‘the 1,000 will become 100,000’ killed.

He said there will be ‘no need for more jails–just funeral parlors.’ That promise he has kept. He also promised to ‘eliminate criminality in the entire country within 3-6 months.’ This one he has not kept.

He may not have reached the promised 100,000 – but he is working hard at it. Who is to say, for sure? The “official” estimate of Extrajudicial Killings is only some 8000, while the unofficial consensus among serious analysts and observers is more than 30,000.

The Mass Murderer

As a result of all this, a complaint of "mass murder" has been filed against Duterte and 11 other Philippine officials for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The 77-page complaint titled "The Situation of Mass Murder in the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte: The Mass Murderer" alleges that Duterte masterminded the killings of suspected drug users and dealers.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, said that there was reason to believe the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has committed crimes against humanity in killing drug suspects by “using police officers, without due process of law, in murder … torture … and the infliction of serious physical injury and mental harm and other inhumane acts against people within the territory of the Philippines.”

The Big Picture Is Not Easy to See

When Marcos became dictator despite a strong liberal democracy then prevailing, people found it incredible. How could Marcos even think of becoming dictator? They did not immediately see that the dictatorship was only made possible with the inspiration and support of an external power like the USA. Later on, they saw.

But neither do they see now all that clearly that a Duterte dictatorship is in progress, with the inspiration and support of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

It is alleged that the man who would now be dictator was a local warlord when he and his elder son first entered into a lucrative relationship with the syndicates of China.

In the past, according to newspaper reports, the only time PDEA or the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency successfully came upon an actual Shabu factory or two was in the city of Davao, whose Mayor then is the President of the Philippines now.

Consequently, with such resources as they gained from the relationship with the syndicates, it became well-nigh impossible for him or his family to be toppled down from power in his “City Kingdom” of Davao.

And also, as a result, with the base of his moderate-sized city, he could always have more than a small say in the power politics of the bigger Republic.

But did he ever think he could become President of that Republic?

He probably was too street smart and too well-grounded to have entertained such flights of fancy. Beyond his City Kingdom did people even know him at all?

Later, even after his presidential victory, that was the lingering question he still asked of some in media.

His friends and backers from China thought otherwise and they had reasons to think so. They must have known how to titillate him then sufficiently to make him open to the idea; “no harm.”

But first, their motive: why would China be so interested in making a Philippine President? This was a question very seldom asked then and now.

Until pointed out, it was not easy to see that China has a border doctrine which they take quite seriously indeed. And anyone who does not respect her borders, as defined by her, becomes a foe – exempting no one, not even her erstwhile great allies like Russia - the former USSR - and Vietnam, countries ruled by communist parties alike.

Their border conflict with China led not to word squabbles but to serious shooting wars.

But if China is so border-sensitive, matters easily get sticky because America has its own sacrosanct “border” doctrine, originally called “the Monroe Doctrine.”

The U.S. doctrine was first applied to Central and South America and later extended to the Great Pacific.

Now, after a half century of colonizing these islands, America clothed the Philippines with the mantle of “independence.” But, of course, she first strengthened her occupation forces here and re-baptized them as “Visiting Forces.”

And, above all, she effectively tied up the Philippine state to US policy through military treaties, supposedly of mutual interest to the two countries.

China is too old, and has seen too many centuries and millennia not to be able to see through the American reality. It would have been fine, in China’s view, if America had its “borders” in California, Hawaii or even Guam.

But for a century now it has occupied the Philippines and has de facto moved its “borders” to what China calls the “South China Sea” or, to some, the “West Philippine Sea”.

The South China Sea, the West Philippine Sea

Sino-American rivalry has been simmering for decades now, on the level of a low-intensity conflict – with the U.S. “in possession,” and China in position of challenger.

What China calls the “South China Sea” is a region of trillions of dollars’ worth of marine wealth and mineral resources, and of strategic sea lanes of communications of the greatest import on world trade and security. It is actually the Southeast Asian sea.

And so, in China’s view, for her own interest, the US must be forced to quit the Philippines A-S-A-P.

And she thought that to accomplish this all she had to do was have her own Philippine President.

We must remember that that this is only the second time in the past 50 some years that China has had a chance to establish a veritable “province” or solid base in Southeast Asia.

The first and last time was in the Indonesia of Sukarno.

Sukarno accommodated China in every way. China advised, urged, and commanded him to allow the China-directed PKI - Partai Komunis Indonesia or the Indonesian Communist Party - to have a crack at putting up their own army, which was referred to as the “Fifth Service” embedded in the Indonesian Armed forces or ABRI.

China was not playing for a day or the length of an administration term but for keeps. She was quite serious in her pursuit of a lasting relationship of dominance over Indonesia, as it would have been the sure way to lord it over all Southeast Asia and the South China Sea.

So, China sought the permanence that she had succeeded in establishing in North Korea – a family dictatorship propped up by the one and only communist party and armed force.

In Indonesia she did succeed in making Sukarno “President for life,” which was not a joke. The joke, which turned out to be a cruel one on China, was the life of Sukarno that she closely monitored. Did China move too late, or too soon?

Today, it seems China knows that it is quite a gamble to engage America in a military war, and that it might even lose everything in a premature military confrontation.

But a low-intensity conflict is another matter. Taking a page from its own history, she learns that there are many ways to win a war, and the most important angle is to demoralize the enemy populace.

The Narcotics War

Everyone has heard about the classic “Opium Wars” of the British Empire against China. Well, China – unbeknownst to many –has its own version of a narcotic offensive against the US and its allies.

Some, like the United Nations’ Organization on Drug Crimes, have noted what a big percentage of drugs reach the distribution cartels of Medellin, Cali and Sinaloa for delivery to the USA, compliments of China as origin through its top transhipper – the Philippines.

The Kingpins of Davao may have known long before that even if only a small percentage of illegal drugs from China-for-America via the Philippines actually stayed here in these islands, it would still be a big industry in the billions of pesos.

One of the last shipments as recorded by both the Bureau of Customs and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency was worth some Php 26-billion. Only about four billion pesos could be accounted for here by arrest-and-seizure actions. That’s still a hefty 15 percent commission for a transhipper.

Today many people remember that Duterte played having misgivings about becoming a presidential candidate.

That initial hesitation to file his Presidential candidacy may have been due to a fear that China could not deliver the wherewithal before the right time, and he would be left twisting in the wind like a funny quixotic figure.

Deadline came and he was not yet a candidate. But “they” – who are these? - “solved” these serious, technical problems of qualification, and the prior substantial issue of logistics delivery.

They were subsequently on a roll with lots of resources and with the new Big Data technology, even prior to the application in the United States electoral politics of the Cambridge Analytica.

A resultant new populism heretofore unseen in this country misled the middle and upper classes who thought that a big dirty mouth like this one could never win.

They did not understand that it was the language of the alienated, angry masses that he was speaking fluently.

Big Data described, prescribed and fed-back that this language made the masses feel one with him. In fact, they were entertained. They wanted this “tough guy” to win and fight the exploitative rich for them.

Thus, out of 50 plus million voters, 16 million supposedly voted for him - not a majority, clearly, less than one-third, and the second lowest plurality after President Ramos’ in recent electoral history, but dramatic enough because victorious, and “in war there is no substitute for victory.”

Throwing the Rule-of-Law Out the Window

With such victory came hubris and a rush to establish dictatorial rule. To date, the CDD forces have done everything unthinkable in a State that should have been governed by the Rule-of-Law but was not.

They have decapitated the Supreme Court, transmogrified the legislature into a mere rubber-stamp Congress, and transmuted a big part of the police force into assassins and death squads.

They have abolished press freedom by threatening many times and carrying out their threats of denying a franchise to the ABS-CBN in willful, arbitrary and dictatorial manner, and incessantly harassing investigative journalism as exemplified by RAPPLER rather than engaging it in sincere dialogue and debate.

They have neglected the welfare of labor and the farming sectors, who remain the most numerous and the poorest in Philippine society - while at the same time threatening our sense of economic and personal security with more and more Chinese welcomed to our shores, by the tens of thousands, as bad faith workers and spies.

While actually still in progress, the China-Duterte Dictatorship has been looking for the legally correct formality of regime change that they hope will ensure for them a chain-of-command obedience from the AFP or the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

There is none.

Therefore, they may find it urgent soon to design a trigger and invent a situation that will seemingly justify the installation of a revolutionary government or its equivalent.

There is no lack of state effort to create an atmosphere of fear, mindless of whether it is succeeding or not. Adding insult to injury, their most profound justification to date of this new state of affairs is that “you have nothing to fear unless you are a terrorist yourself.”

The CDD Forces – the China Duterte Dictatorship - are looking at the lay of the land and they think they know exactly how to divide us all up and rule, not for a term but for generations to come.

Money and arms are what they are looking at.

But there is no doubt about this: the China-Duterte-Dictatorship process has become a one-way street, where there is no turning back. It has to be stopped.

The Moneyed Few who observe them and hope that they may still cease and desist are merely whistling in the dark. These “oligarchs” who always tend merely to take care of themselves are in for a big unpleasant surprise, for they stand to lose everything, including their personal freedoms.

Today it looks like there is only one Dennis Uy to replace them. A little later they will see that there are a few more who were just waiting in the wings all this while.

Why did the government characterize Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III as “a fugitive” when he left for the States, when there were no cases filed against him, unless they are right now busy preparing the filing of personal criminal cases that will allow them to detain him as Marcos did in that first experiment in Philippine dictatorship?

The same goes for the legally Armed Sector - the Armed Forces of the Philippines or AFP. Today, to some it looks like the downing of some Army commanders by assassin police forces are an isolated case. A little later the story may look very much like the Indonesia of 50 years ago when the topmost commanders’ very lives had deliberately become prime target.

The legally armed sector of Philippine society often seems to be “divided.” For one thing, the PNP (police) is not the AFP (army, air force, navy). The two have different chains-of-command.

They are united, however, because of our Constitution, which gives them the obligation to obey the President, unless the latter’s orders are patently illegal.

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