Rody holds court

The stories emerging from the congressional probes on the drug war are more terrifying than Halloween ghost stories.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Now, is the nation horrified enough to act so that the atrocities won't happen again? There's no guarantee that there won't be a repeat, even if the alleged 0 perpetrators are put behind bars. Unless one point that Rodrigo Duterte raised in his much-awaited appearance at the Senate is addressed: slow justice.

This slow pace, and the overall weakness of the criminal justice system, make people feel unsafe and so frustrated with lawlessness that they are willing to accept short cuts to justice.

Election results and surveys consistently show a level of public support for anti-crime hardliners that would frustrate human rights advocates.

The maiden hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee produced several bombshells - some volunteered by an unapologetic Duterte himself - that could bolster efforts to indict him and his minions for crimes against humanity.

But he also used the hearing to remind the nation of his life's advocacy, for which Filipinos gave him a landslide victory in 2016: the justice system is broken, so he will just go around it and get rid of criminal elements. There's a segment of the population that agrees with him when he argues that you can't play nice with the lowlifes; you just have to exterminate them.

There are cops who genuinely support such short cuts to justice. In police offices, you hear personnel grumbling about the hassle of having to spend half a day to attend a court hearing as a prosecution witness. For a single case, they grouse, their presence in court could be required over 20 years, and this is no exaggeration. So why not just get rid of the offender for good, ASAP? The world will then be a safer place - this hardliner's message resonates. It appeals to the basic human need for personal safety, which is ranked in importance next to the basic physiological needs for food, water and shelter.