Shame and scandal in the family

If you grew up in the ’60s chances are you’ve heard if not memorized the Harry Belafonte classic called “Shame and Scandal in the family”. Not only is it pleasant to listen to, it’s loaded with humor about infidelity all put into a great song. Fortunately, the song is just a song, unlike the current saga of celebrity sisters that has turned into a social and moral hurricane or typhoon as it fills up airtime, YouTube and social media depicting what wags and hags label as “juicy” and explosive. In this day and age of celebrity status and public figure label, it seems to be an accepted practice to verbally accuse and assault one’s competitors or relatives as need be in order to win the fight or score publicity points. There was a time when it was called scandalous, in bad taste and politely referred to as “washing one’s laundry in public”. But how times have changed.

Now the media is not only getting into the act, many even try to present it as legitimate news or public concern. Some call it a scoop to be able to get one party to react in a highly emotional or verbally violent manner. All this of course is intended to fuel a “she said vs. she said” feud just to get ahead of the competition and to pump up ratings to draw in more advertisers. It’s bad enough that many media news outlets sell blood and gore on primetime TV but now they have descended to special features about “Shame and Scandal in the Family” and it is not a practice that should be tolerated or encouraged. Many of us in media have deviated far from established norms in how we classify or qualify what is news as well as in the manner we present it. But to present scandalous catfights or family crisis or scandal as news worthy is tantamount to teaching people that if you behave in this manner you will be heard, you will come out on TV and you will win the fight. This is wrong and the public, particularly church going viewers and advertisers who believe in family values should not tolerate or support such media coverage or offerings. Sing the song but don’t promote the wrong!

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After hearing about the President’s recent spill on his motorcycle, his unscheduled return to Manila due to severe back pains and a bunch of critics declaring their intent to file criminal charges against the President, I could not help but wonder what will happen when Rodrigo Duterte is no longer President? What will drastically change?

Have you ever considered what the “post Duterte” scenario will look like?  Some people can’t wait for the day that President Rodrigo Duterte leaves office, some are looking forward to filing charges against him for alleged human rights abuses, while others are praying and hoping that the next President will be a Duterte offspring, a clone or a minion. Still there are those who want someone who has PRRD’s “political will” mixed with more statesmanship skills. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a perfect President and even the best ones will either have to deal, fold or call it as the situation dictates.

My first biggest worry is what will happen to the anti- drug war? By this I mean the legitimate campaign to eradicate drugs on the streets, reduce the number of drug dependent or addicted criminals, and maintain the currently low incidence of crimes particularly crimes against persons or property. At the height of our collective nightmares concerning drugs and criminality, many of us were afraid to move around at night, women were especially at risk and the numbers of victims that were raped, murdered etc. were high while criminals roamed with impunity, some of them driving cabs to kidnap passengers to rob and rape them. Back then, civilians were getting killed by hit men on motorcycles so often that the act earned the label “Killed by riding in tandem”. To this day many of us continue to live in barangays where residents have their own “street association” that hire security guards or watchmen simply to challenge non-residents and vehicles that might engage in some sort of crime. Our fear of crime is so deep that even after drugs have been eradicated in many barangays, we still put up our defenses out of habit.

I would suggest that the President and his men should seriously undertake a study or create a way of institutionalizing the war on drugs so that it is sustained even after President Duterte leaves office. Much of today’s campaign is based on the personal commitment of President Duterte against drugs, implemented by political appointees who will all be gone when the President leaves and is largely directed by politicians or political will. Yes we have the needed laws, a network and army of law enforcers but all these have to be consolidated and professionalized to the point that it becomes a continuing policy of government instead of a police operation as it was first called; “Oplan Tokhang”. My fear is that after President Duterte leaves office, politics or corruption will immediately dilute the strength of the drug war and bring us back to the pre-PRRD days where most barangays were dealerships of illegal drugs and many barangay captains were protectors if not drug lords in our own backyard. Those who want to end or minimize the killings should focus on the challenge of professionalizing, sustaining and building up an institution that is politically independent. Criticism and threats will not carry us over or protect us from the real threat that is illegal drugs. The war against drugs must go on!

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