During the Marcos regime the Armed Forces organized paramilitary units and tapped civilian communities in the battle against communist rebels who were starting to overwhelm Davao City. The “Alsa Masa” operated vigilante-style and proved highly effective in ridding the city of communist influence.
Two decades later, death squads continue to operate in Davao, according to the head of the Commission on Human Rights. In the past 11 years, Leila de Lima told a congressional inquiry, 538 deaths in Davao City have been attributed to death squads. The city government has vehemently denied any hand in the killings. Davao paints itself as one of the safest cities in the country, although in 2003 its international airport and wharf were the targets of deadly bomb attacks attributed to terrorists. These were followed soon after by bomb attacks on the city’s mosques.
Whether or not local authorities had a hand in the mosque bombings in retaliation for the previous attacks, Davao residents apparently continued to have faith in their local government. Rodrigo Duterte, a former police chief, not only won re-election as mayor in 2007; his 28-year-old daughter Sara was also elected vice mayor. As head of the city council, the vice mayor is supposed to exercise oversight functions over the mayor. Duterte has said he wanted his daughter to take over his post when his third and final term ends next year. He may yet get his wish.
Davao voters are not the only Filipinos who tend to favor an iron hand approach to the maintenance of peace and order. Individuals such as Sen. Panfilo Lacson did not reach their positions by playing nice with bad guys. Faced with weak law enforcement, corruption in the judicial system and the glacial pace of Philippine justice, there are Filipinos who are willing to look the other way when authorities take extrajudicial short cuts in maintaining law and order.
Once unleashed, however, death squads can quickly run out of control. Wielding the power of life and death can be addicting, and members of death squads rarely know when to stop. There are people who applaud vigilantism, until someone dear to them becomes the vigilantes’ target. In a democratic, civilized society, there cannot be any room for death squads.