http://tinyurl.com/hzs6bup

The feature gives through photographs and text by Daniel Berehulak a graphic documentation of 57 homicide victims he covered in 35 days – a sample representation of the 5,000 or so suspects gunned down in drugs-related operations in the past five months.

We passed on the NYT feature in our Twitter account, eliciting various reactions. Samples:

AJ+ ‏‪@ajplus: “It’s really terrifying when you’re actually there. What Duterte’s shoot-and-kill policy really looks like…” (We suggest you access the AJ feature also — fdp.)

Luz MacArthur, New York: “I read the article. It is shocking. I feel shame, anger and sadness as well as helplessness. As long as Duterte remains popular this will continue. Peace.”

Cebu Daily News: “Duterte shaping up to be a dictator, say militants | via @MichCDN”

We wondered on Twitter why it took the foreign press, and not the local media, to highlight in such graphic manner the murder of poor Filipinos that cry to heaven not only for justice but also for vengeance. We got such reactions as:

Mark Cojuangco: “Coz PH media is more for entertainment than news.”

Cathy Cañares Yamsuan: “There is no guarantee that institutions bound by law (PNP, DOJ) to protect the Pinoy journalist while doing his/her job will do their job.”

Teddy Locsin Jr.: “It is for not lack of courage, Pinoy photogs trying to do it but product is good only accidentally. W Caucasians, it is art.”

Risa Hontiveros: “Solution to crime isn’t EJKs or death pen. Peace will only be possible w/respect for dignity of women & men & govt’s adherence to human rts”

Actually the Philippine media have been reporting on the daily killings, but for various reasons, their reports have not had as much impact. There is also the problem of some segments of media having been intimidated into playing it safe.

The extrajudicial killings have caught the attention of the International Criminal Court, the European Union, and even incoming US President Donald Trump, who – according to Duterte – praised his anti-narcotics drive as being done the “right way.”

Still, we think that the summary taking of human lives, outside the law, on such a brutal and relentless scale is not likely to escape world censure. How will Duterte handle it?

• ‘Whatever we sow, we reap’

A RELATED item that also drew animated reactions was our Postscript last Thursday titled “Arrogance of power rears its ugly head.”

We were disturbed by President Duterte’s refusal to explain his order to reinstate Supt. Marvin Marcos as chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of Region 8. He said: “I do not have to explain to you, the whole republic and the critics, why I made the order for (PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa) just to sit down and do not remove him (Supt. Marcos).”

Reader Max Sucquit Jr. said: “Your column should be an eye-opener to most people, particularly those in government administration. What Bible verse could be more fitting than Proverbs 16:19 which you quoted. ‘Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.’

“Without naming names, we know what such ‘arrogance of power’ can do to the ones guilty of it as well as to those unfortunate ones who get in their way or who incur their ire. Arrogance is akin to abuse. For this, that book of timeless wisdom warns, ‘Man has dominated man to his harm.’ (Ecclesiastes 8: 9)

“The good news is, such abusive arrogance will not be left unpunished. As history shows, ruthless dictators the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, and in more recent times, Saddam Hussein and Moamar Khadaffy all met a humiliating, brutal end. Was it divine intervention? Did God’s wrath finally come upon them all?

“Centuries earlier, while boastful Babylonian King Belshazzar was loudly cursing Jehovah, the god of the Jews, people whom the Babylonians had subdued, and was desecrating holy utensils from the Jewish temple by drinking wine from a sacred cup, the ominous ‘writing on the wall’ appeared before him, signaling his impending downfall.

“That very night the forces of Medo-Persian King Cyrus slipped through a gate left open in the mighty walls of Babylon as the drunken Belshazzar held a banquet. Before daybreak the proud Babylonian monarch was dead, together with his royal court!

“Whether by divine intervention or simply the workings of political forces, arrogant and abusive rulers cannot escape the consequences of their ruthless course. ‘Whatever a person is sowing, this he will also reap.’ (Galatians 6: 7).”

• New Chinese wifle for Pinoy soldier?

FROM training camp to the battlefield, the soldier is told again and again till he believes it: his rifle is not only his life but also his wife.

So now with the decision of the Commander-in-Chief to accept the guns that China has been offering to the armed forces, it would be interesting to ask the Filipino foot soldier his preference between a Chinese and a Stateside rifle.

The Chief should listen to the men he is sending out there to kill or be killed lugging a trusty rifle. Most soldiers now carry an M-16, although the AFP has recently ordered 50,000 M-4 for the Army.

The President said China has been pressing the sale of its rifles that are being offered dirt cheap (payable in 25 years, if they last that long). Nothing was mentioned about the model, caliber, volume – and the availability of parts and BULLETS!

We are no authority on ordnance, but if asked, we would say: Don’t buy our soldiers a cheap Chinese wifle!