Tragedy

A Shakespearean tragedy pales in comparison to Philippine society's real-life drama unfolding right before our eyes.

- IRIS GONZALES

Not even Richard III, whose protagonist has an insatiable lust for power and kills everyone who stands in his way, comes close.

Here is Rody Duterte, former president of this nation of 120 million, proud and unapologetic as he told a Senate inquiry on the war on drugs – a hearing which he ended up hijacking with his still potent Duterte magic – that he had maintained a death squad of gangsters, including crazy rich people, who wanted to kill other criminals when he was mayor of Davao.

We already knew this, but hearing it straight from the horse's mouth is still surreal, shocking and disturbing.

It's tragic that upon hearing this, the crowd in the Senate session hall gallery seemed not to care, even laughing at Duterte's jokes and seemingly unaffected by his jaw-dropping responses. One will lose count of the number of PIs – uttered like a true gangster – which reverberated in the Senate hall.

Here is an ex-mayor and ex-president talking about deaths and killings which he allowed as mayor – to rid his city of criminals. He was judge, jury and executioner. We were fine with that then and still fine with it now. What a tragedy.