The King’s Reign of Terror: Duterte’s Punitive Enforcement of Health Protocols
By: Lemuel Deinla
Metro Manila and other places seeing another surge in COVID-19 cases are under lockdown again. This has been the third time that the Duterte administration ordered pandemic-stricken areas to be placed under ECQ. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the administration made a clear choice regarding its implementation of lockdowns and health protocols — approaches that are punitive, militaristic, and fascist in nature.
In a televised speech on July 21, 2020, Duterte explicitly instructed the police to punish quarantine violators. According to him, a crackdown against violators should be pursued and the offenders should be given a “lesson for all time.” But even before his July 2020 speech, Duterte directed the PNP to make arrests and, at one point, to even shoot unruly citizens dead. In his April 13 weekly report to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee, Duterte proudly reported to Congress that, from the beginning of the lockdown on March 16, 2020, the PNP has arrested, warned, and fined a total of 81,908 individuals for violating quarantine protocols and apprehended a total of 7,561 PUVs for violating the ECQ guidelines. Duterte also commanded barangay captains to take part in enforcing lockdowns and quarantine.
The PNP, the AFP, barangay captains, and barangay tanods — Duterte’s agents of punishment and death — are no strangers to violence. They have been the administration’s enforcers of Oplan Tokhang, Martial Law in Mindanao, repression of progressive individuals and organizations, and bloody operations in Negros Island and the Southern Tagalog region. Empowered by none other than the president himself, they unleashed a new wave of terror upon the citizenry when the pandemic hit.
On March 21, 2020, a barangay captain in Santa Cruz, Laguna, threatened five quarantine violators that he will shoot the latter unless they go inside and imprison themselves in a dog cage. It is also important to note that two of the quarantine violators were minors. Barangay San Isidro in Parañaque City was documented on March 24 to have punished arrested quarantine violators by forcing them to sit in an open space under the blazing sun. On April 5, a barangay captain in Pandacaqui, Pampanga humiliated LGBTQ+ quarantine violators by forcing the latter to kiss one another and do a sexy dance in front of a minor — the whole incident was filmed and broadcasted live on Facebook. Amnesty International promptly released a statement saying that such inhumane punishments can be considered torture. A Foucaldian reading may lead us to the interpretation that the government also targets people who have not committed any violation to coerce them into submission. The degrading punishments were intended to deter the offender from repeating their violation and prevent the possibility of having imitators.
One year later, things have not changed. When COVID-19 cases surged during March 2021, a second lockdown was ordered in Metro Manila and its surrounding provinces. The punitive approach to enforcing the lockdown was once again employed. The punishments have gotten worse this time, for they have led to the deaths of quarantine violators. Darren Manaog Peñaredondo died of a stroke after the police forced him to do pumping exercises 300 times. Ernanie Lumban Jimenez was beaten to death by two barangay tanods in Turbina, Calamba, Laguna.
For many of the quarantine violators, they were arrested and imprisoned. Rappler analyzed the daily reports released by the Joint Task Force COVID Shield which was composed of the AFP, the PNP, the BFP, and the Philippine Coast Guard. According to the data, 19,340 were arrested by March 30, 2020. Three months later, about 2,692 were still languishing in jails. Rappler found out that the PNP was making more arrests than the courts could handle. Backlogs built up and delayed the inquest proceedings needed to process arrests made without warrants. Since the violators are required to undergo inquest first, they remain in police custody and locked up in jails usually for indeterminate amounts of time.
In Foucaldian terms, Duterte’s punitive approach to the enforcement of lockdown and health protocols is a return to Europe’s old system of punishment. In total contrast with the penal reforms of the 18th century, the punishments for quarantine violators are arbitrary, theatrical, and meant to sow terror. The quarantine and curfew violators are to become living cautionary tales. They were punished to spread the truth about their transgressions against Duterte’s orders.
Quoting Foucault from his book Discipline and Punish, another purpose of Duterte’s punitive approach is “[To] make everyone aware, through the body of the criminal, of the unrestrained power of the sovereign.” For Duterte’s agents of punishment and death, the president’s words are the law. To violate the curfew, liquor bans, checkpoints, and “tiny bubbles,” is to disobey Duterte. And, we know that, among the repressive state apparatuses, the police especially take Duterte’s words as literal commands. In 2019, the PNP closed down Lotto outlets because Duterte verbally ordered them; they proceeded with the operation even without written orders.
But, is Duterte’s punitive approach effective? To answer that we ask: Should quarantine violators be punished for their violations or should they just be simply warned and informed about the importance of following health protocols? It all boils down to which approach elicits desired positive behavior from people. If a person’s only motivation for following minimum health standards is due to their fear of being punished, arrested, and jailed, they will never fully understand the importance of following such protocols. If punishment is the incentive, people would only wear face masks, practice social distancing, avoid mass gatherings, and follow other health protocols when the enforcer, i.e., a police officer, soldier, or barangay tanod, is present within their vicinity. Such an approach would not encourage people to voluntarily follow minimum health standards because they do not appreciate the underlying importance enough.
Policy-wise, the punitive approach also does not make any sense. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has recommended that fewer people should be sent to prisons to avoid further overcrowding jails. The CHRI stated that, because prisons are poorly ventilated spaces lacking access to proper healthcare, COVID-19 could easily spread among prisoners. Decongesting prisons should be a priority of governments during the pandemic.
Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties, a group of Filipino lawyers, has condemned the Duterte administration’s hypocritical and unequal enforcement of the law. Allies of the president who committed serious quarantine violations were not held accountable while quarantine violators with low-level offenses suffered draconian penalties. True to the Foucaldian return to Europe’s classical legal system, Duterte’s punitive approach has glaring loopholes.
From the feminist point of view, the Duterte administration has serious shortcomings in terms of addressing the needs of the people. Many Filipinos go outside of their homes to work and earn a living so that their families could survive. This is particularly true for low-income Filipinos who are in “no work, no pay” jobs. The sharp rise in unemployment during the pandemic also forced many Filipinos to enter the informal economy. Although the government did have a social amelioration program, cash aid and relief goods are meager, delayed, and intermittent. Given all these, what Filipinos need most is empathy. Should they fail to follow minimum health standards, the government should educate them instead of punishing them ruthlessly. If a person neglects to wear a mask, law enforcers should instead provide them with one. If people violate the curfew, law enforcers should just simply warn them. If public utility vehicles are not able to follow social distancing, law enforcers should understand that it is not the passengers’ fault that transportation was made scarce by the government.
The harshness of the Duterte administration could stem from the fact that the pandemic policymaking bodies such as the IATF are dominated by mostly unqualified men; only a few women serve in Duterte’s cabinet. From the words of Joan Tronto, the government must be attentive and responsive to the needs of the people while being responsible and competent in the process of caring for the people. These are qualities that Duterte sorely lacks.
In a recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia, 9 out of 10 Filipinos said that the government’s pandemic response has been lacking. Many participants pointed out the government’s inadequate financial aid, low supply of vaccines, slow vaccination rollout, problems in implementing health protocols, and ineffective information campaign, among others. Filipinos are keenly aware of the failures of Duterte’s pandemic response because they are living through the effects of this grave mismanagement.
Like the spectators in public executions from Foucault’s Europe, we are given the opportunity to lay our sympathies with the oppressed. Let’s tear down the scaffold of Duterte’s system of terror and bring the tormentors to justice.
