Beware of boomerang

Attempts to demonize the war on drugs, which is how the cinematic type of extended hearings by the so-called Quadcom panel of the House of Representatives is becoming known for, has a good chance of backfiring.

The stream of personalities who have generally reversed course in their testimonies or the police officials now spilling the beans have the common denominator of implicating former President Rodrigo Duterte and his men on abuses associated with the anti-narcotics campaign. These exposes, however, have not made any impact on public perception.

The panel witnesses are seen to have similar motivations of saving their skins or seeking vengeance after suffering during the implementation of the determined campaign to demolish the drug network built over the years before the Duterte era.

While human rights atrocities were widely alleged, these have not been proven. In the course of destroying the cartels, some strange alliances happened in which illicit money was poured for international condemnation of the turnout of the Duterte campaign.

It is not too different in how the global perception is being shaped against Israel’s crusade to seek accountability from those responsible for the 7 October massacre of Hamas.

The casualties that mounted in Israel’s campaign are being conveniently manipulated by moneyed groups that support the obliteration of the Jewish state from the map.

Condemnation against the war on drugs on the international stage failed to bring down the high survey ratings of Duterte because Filipinos’ sense of security was uplifted for the first time in decades in his watch.

It was the time that families could stay out of their homes late at night without the worry of being waylaid by criminals or that the streets were not crawling with drug traffickers and users.

Now the fear of the night is back and most Filipinos lock themselves in their homes when darkness falls.

Those behind the demonization effort should review the recent past when a population fed up with the crime wave chose Duterte who has a singular offer to voters of going hard against addicts and pushers.

His promise became the hope, primarily of the millions of Filipinos working abroad, of having a safe environment where people don’t have to worry about their children either being mugged or falling into the hands of drug syndicates.

The relentless push to rid the country of the social menace came with vitriolic speeches that only Duterte was capable of. Still, there were almost daily reports of deaths associated with the campaign.

Lately, former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma, who is also a police colonel, recounted how Duterte tasked her to find a police official to lead the nationwide anti-narcotics campaign.

Injecting malice into the request, the congressmen claimed that it proved the extrajudicial killings were state-sanctioned, which was a leap in conclusion.

Garma claimed reward money was provided to make the campaign a success but neutralizing drug personalities was a mere conjecture since the witness can offer only second-hand information or none at all.

Instead of indicting Duterte through public opinion, the Quadcom inquisition only solidified the image of the former president as having done something to back up his promise to the nation.

What matters to the people are results and the will of leaders to follow up on what was given to them as a promise to secure their votes.

Duterte even broke his vow of eradicating the drug network within six months of his assumption into the presidency saying then that he only discovered the enormity of the problem when he entered Malacanang.

Still, the people trusted him to deliver as borne out by survey results showing his extraordinary ratings which according to a BBC political commentator are numbers that Western politicians can only dream of.

The perception of the public that the narcotics menace is making a strong comeback and the demolition job on the war on drugs is converging against the Quadcom legislators.

Public perception is not shaped by the highfalutin arguments of the congressmen but by results that were, for the people, delivered by one-trick pony Duterte.