[OPINION] Police, victims, and a call for change
Dec 25, 2020 10:29 AM PHT
Gustavo Gonzalez
The killing of two unarmed civilians, Sonya and Frank Gregorio, that happened last December 20, has rightly met with widespread condemnation and ignited the debate about the need for police reform in the Philippines.
There are different views emerging in this public debate. Some see the killings as an isolated incident by a “bad cop” who needs to be prosecuted and removed from the police force. (READ: Timeline of Tarlac shooting: What we know so far)
Others point to lawlessness and lack of respect for the police, contributing to an “us versus them” mentality. Yet others emphasize a policing culture of addressing crime by resorting to violence and abuse of power.
wasn t in the forefront, if it was on any front at all. but, look, there is a history of u.s. presidents in some way every u.s. president looking past human rights at some point in dealing with leaders of other countries. i mean, every time you sit down with a leader in saudi arabia, you have to look past human rights to an extent. i disagree, john. i don t think you look past it. that certainly wasn t my experience working at the pentagon and the state department. you always bring it up. you certainly bring it up privately when there s a case to be brought up and even perhaps publicly if it s warranted in front of the cameras. what stuns me about this, duterte folks say it didn t come up and the white house folks say it came up briefly. the way i read that, they talked about the drug war and slapping that as a band aid on there for having to bring up the human rights things. you can t talk about the human rights in the philippines without talking about the drug war. like talking abo
state department will continue to press for human rights in the philippines. duterte has indicated he may not even come because he is just so busy. a erin? all right, no shocking part about the whole story. here is the reality, they re struggline struggling. you saw sean spicer, and reince priebus struggling to explain the president s comments on korea and duterte. they re put in an incredible situation here. they have to defend their boss. you spin, erin, and that is exactly what is going on here. i mean, you look at the leader, the philippines leader who is accused of so many human rights violations. but the white house s take on this is basically look, this is someone who may be able to help at the ends of the day when it comes to the conflict in north korea. strategically the philippines is important for a number of reasons in terms of military