Rummage: "Why I'd punch the sheriff too" from the Philippine Collegian

The following article is from the Philippine Collegian. Obviously, I wouldn't post it here if I didn't think it's interesting. The article is in defense of Mayor Sara Duterte (of Davao City) punching one of the sheriffs of the city.

Like the author of the article, I'd definitely "punch the sheriff too" and without hesitations if I was in Mayor Duterte's shoes.

The contents of the following article are not mine. All rights go to the author, Richard Jacob Dy of the Philippine Collegian.

Why I’d punch the sheriff too
(This article was first published in print in issue 3-4 of the Philippine Collegian on 05 July 2011.)
by Richard Jacob Dy

In the age of social networks, we are used to seeing hashtags such as “savages,” “barbaric,” and “uncivilized,” which often pertain to “violent” individuals whose “lack of education” deprive them of moral virtues like decency, self-control and diplomacy.

When Davao City’s Sara Duterte punched the “powerless” sheriff, who commanded over a demolition team, many condemned the act as “savagery,” saying it was wrong for a government official to lose temper and publicly embarrass an officer. Many pundits agree that the both frowned upon and celebrated incident may cost Duterte her office, and it could also be a valid ground for her disbarment.

Thanks to this growing exercise of posting commentary in social media, people went as far as carelessly quoting Niccolo Machiavelli’s “the ends justify the means” to render the idea of destroying homes acceptable. For these people, in exchange of a bloodbath, a justified end can be reduced into a beautiful site of 2,000-square meter land.

People seemed to care less about the fact that Duterte punched the sheriff because his impatience led to a bloody riot that injured individuals. Certain people were quick to discount Duterte, for a mistake can never be solved by another mistake, according to God knows who.

But how can one be diplomatic enough not to punch a man responsible for more than ten injuries, when it could have been clearly avoided? After helping families whose houses and lives were affected by devastating flash floods in Davao, how can one be calm when you hear news about men ruthlessly destroying the shanties that hundreds of families, for years, call their home?

For some people, there is only one kind of violence. When residents challenge demolition teams with stones and sling shots, it seems normal for people to call them “illegal,” and that they don’t have the right to protest. Hence, for them, it seems normal to call them violent.

People don’t usually call demolitions violent, because they all seem necessary and just, even if it means forcing individuals to leave their homes and forcing people to move to unliveable places. In the name of “development projects,” people don’t call laws that force individuals to vacate contested terrain violent.

When choosing whom to call violent, some people take sides without looking beyond the obvious. For some, the mayor used her fist; she abused her power.

In the spate of demolitions in Quezon City, particularly in Sitio San Roque where the office of the city mayor stands nearby, the residents fought for their homes, but they received no help from the city government. Rarely does it happen that a government official takes the side of the people in demolitions. Duterte was an exception. She punched the sheriff, and she joined the violent ones.

I would punch the sheriff too, and that makes me a pompous bastard. But I don’t care, especially when all I can think about are the individuals who quickly dismiss Duterte’s punch as violent, and yet see nothing wrong with displacing families from their homes.