Ignore Social Science but...

The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress released a report on September 1999, titled "The Sociology and Psychology of Terrorism: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why?". One of its findings says

Al-Qaida's expected retaliation for the U.S. cruise missile attack against al-Qaida's training facilities in Afghanistan on August 20, 1998, could take several forms of terrorist attack in the nation's capital. Al-Qaida could detonate a Chechen-type building-buster bomb at a federal building. Suicide bomber(s) belonging to al-Qaida's Martyrdom Battalion could crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives (C-4 and semtex) into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or the White House. Ramzi Yousef had planned to do this against the CIA headquarters.

And you already know what happened on September 11, 2001---two years after the report came out. It only shows how Social Science can provide a valuable tool in preventing large-scale mayhem, if only it is given due attention.

Reporter's Notebook on Davao Death Squad

As days passed by, more and more media outfits are looking into the Davao Death Squad phenomenon in Davao City. As far as I know, two international media outfits---ITV-CNN and Al Jazeera---have previously done a report on the DDS. This latest probe is from GMA- Reporter's Notebook.

This whole thing I believe is not just a political criticism being leveled against Mayor Duterte by his political opponents in order to upset his long-standing domination of Davao politics. It's more than that. It's a very serious issue---so serious as to warrant media attention, here and abroad.

Davaoeños and the Bystander effect

What is happening in Davao City can make for an excellent case study illustrating the "bystander effect." The statistics of those killed by the vigilante group Davao Death Squad (DDS) is steadily rising. According to Fr. Amado Picardal, CSsR, spokesman of Coalition Against Summary Executions (Case), "For over 10 years, the number of victims of the so-called Davao Death Squad has reached 890 (from 1998 to March 2009)."

Perhaps in other places, this is more than enough to ring the alarm. But not in Davao City---an "oasis of tranquility," as the legendary journalist Max Soliven once described it, amidst the raging conflicts that have plagued most of its neighbors. So far, the rise of death incidence primarily attributed to the Dds has not incited an uproar from the public. And it can even be said that it won't, for as long as there is peace and order---the variety peddled by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

More than two decades ago, while in Davao doing a report on the carnage waged by the vigilante group Alsa Masa, Sheila Coronel made an acute observation on the public's response towards the killings. "Often in Davao," Coronel wrote, "when one asks why certain things are allowed to happen, the queries are shrugged off with a curt "You don't live here, you don't know what it is like."" As Davao City is once again enthralled by a vigilante group, this time by the DDS, perhaps the same observation can be made.

How come that, except for a small fraction of human rights activists and civil society groups, not a sizeable majority is protesting against the killings? Indeed, the general mood is one of acceptance, or as others would put it, a tacit approval. How can this be explained?

Al Jazeera on Davao Death Squad

What do we stand for?

From Mindanao Times 5/24/09

Since the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) began on March 30 its investigation on the extrajudicial killings in Davao City, a cloud of doubt hung over the CHR. Many Davaoeños cannot seem to understand why the CHR is investigating the killings in Davao City that, according to the latest count, have claimed more than 800 victims—most of whom have criminal records.

They can’t help asking: Which human rights is the CHR favoring? Is it the human rights of the criminals or the human rights of the innocent civilians? Why shine a bright light on the killings when the city and its citizens are enjoying peace and prosperity? Can the CHR not leave this dark side of the city since Davaoeños can live with it anyway? Don’t these criminals deserve to be killed in the first place?

Copying Costa Rica

Thomas Friedman's column, (No) Drill, Baby, Drill, about Costa Rica's innovative move to "put energy, environment, mines and water all under one minister," which by the way no other country has ever done, got me to thinking if we could do the same here in the Philippines.

To put those departments under one roof might seem unusual. But Costa Rica did just that.

The results? According to Thomas Friedman, Costa Rica "now gets more than 95 percent of its energy from these renewables" [hydro-electric power, wind and geo-thermal] when in 1985, "it was 50 percent hydro, 50 percent oil."

What is more interesting, Friedman adds, is that "Costa Rica discovered its own oil five years ago but decided to ban drilling — so as not to pollute its politics or environment!"

This only goes to show that "economic growth and environmentalism work together." Now can we do the same?

Human Rights Watch is right

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based human rights group, released yesterday its report, titled "You Can Die Any Time: Death Squad Killings in Mindanao."

After downloading the soft copy of the report, I managed to take a cursory read of the report. There's one portion of the report that struck me, only because it confirmed what my father told me some years back. Once he told me that some members of the DDS are former NPAs. In fact, my father said, he knew someone who had just been recruited to join this ghostly group.

One portion of the HRW's report, "The Perpetrators: Inside the Davao Death Squad," confirmed this. "Most members of the DDS fall into two main groups," the report said. "According to several insiders, the older members, some of whom were recruited back in the early 2000s, were primarily former members of the so-called “sparrow units” of the NPA who surrendered to the government, as well as some former military and police personnel."

Update: Download the full report of the HRW here.

ITV-CNN on Davao Death Squad