George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 97

< 96th Story >

The slang term ‘Wang-tta’ [Outcast] is quite common. Its exact origin is unknown, but it simply refers to group bullying.

People often assume these individuals have personal issues, but paradoxically, bullies often have their own mental deficiencies and target those weaker than themselves. At the very least, this aspect deserves consideration. It shouldn’t be surprising what happens when you provoke such a person.

Because this boy demonstrated it all too clearly.

“So, I shot them all dead! Criminals deserve to die!”

The boy grew into a middle-aged man before he realized it. However, he didn’t spend his life in and out of detention centers, wasting it on crime. He graduated from San Beda University’s law school, became a prosecutor, and eventually the ‘Mayor of Davao.’

Wasn’t he the epitome of a success story? If his life were a graph, the arrow would be soaring beyond the frame, reaching the edge of the atmosphere.

“Do you understand the gravity of this, Vice Mayor!”

And today, that arrow began to waver. A terrorist attack occurred in Davao, his city. To be precise, attacks happened simultaneously in cities and rural areas across Mindanao, but the fact remained: Davao was a target.

“In Davao, the most beautiful and safest city in the Philippines! A damn terrorist attack! How is this even possible!? Huh!?”

“Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte, please calm down.”

The middle-aged man’s name was Duterte.

“I agree with the Mayor. A terrorist attack is unacceptable in Davao.”

What kind of city is Davao? It was a city where the crime rate plummeted after Duterte took office. It boasted top-tier security throughout the Philippines and even Southeast Asia.

By mobilizing the DDS (Davao Death Squad) [A vigilante group known for its extrajudicial killings], a kind of private army and execution unit, and indiscriminately targeting those labeled as criminals with submachine guns, and imposing harsh penalties even for minor offenses, criminals had no escape.

The situation was such that those killed were left at the scene without investigation; only the bodies were removed. Of course, sanitation workers couldn’t handle the body removal.

For those with inherently criminal mindsets, not just petty scammers, the only options were to live as quietly as possible in Davao or to leave altogether.

The DDS wasn’t Duterte’s creation, but the current DDS he commands is likely shaped by his experience dealing with school bullying with a gun, his knowledge as a prosecutor, and his personal sense of justice.

The DDS’s methods were largely illegal, and some victims of excessive extrajudicial punishment were innocent. However, Duterte’s four terms as mayor of Davao are due to the strong support and enthusiastic response from Davao’s citizens.

The citizens didn’t want to return to the days of being stabbed in the back or fearing gunfire in the marketplace, regardless of the sacrifices of innocent people.

To the citizens of Davao City, Duterte was a ‘necessary evil’ for maintaining ‘order.’

“This is absolutely unacceptable. Mobilize the DDS.”

However, order is a subtle thing. Isn’t order based on slavery still order? Therefore, order isn’t necessarily the right word; it’s simply the opposite of chaos. Citizens needed a strong government to protect their lives and property.

“You are right.”

‘Sometimes, a strong medicine is needed for a serious illness. I wonder if the extreme medicine called Duterte will work on these damn terrorists.’

The vice mayor was relieved that this crazy bastard was on their side, at least for now.

“But where do we deploy them?”

The DDS, under the vice mayor’s orders, was already fully armed and ready to deploy. The problem was that the gunmen didn’t know where to aim and fire. A bullet without a target is wasted.

When there’s a terrorist attack, there’s usually a statement, right? ‘This attack happened because of this! Listen to our demands!’ But this time, there was nothing. No one in the Philippines could figure out what to do.

In the meantime, Duterte was the first to act.

“Shake down every suspicious element and find out if they’re informants or anything! Interrogate anyone showing even a hint of involvement!”

Even if the target is small, firing tens of thousands of bullets means one is bound to hit, right? Or someone unrelated might get caught in the crossfire, but the goal justifies the sacrifices. At least, that’s what Duterte thought.

“Understood. What about a statement?”

“No need for lengthy explanations!”

Duterte, enraged, jumped up from his seat. With a wild look in his eyes, he was a storm—a sweeping wind that destroys everything indiscriminately until exhaustion sets in.

“I will personally annihilate these terrorist bastards!”

Duterte already held a Korean-made K-1 assault rifle with a magazine attached. The metallic sound of cocking the bolt was Duterte’s resolution and statement.

The original madman who destroys all crime began to move.

* * *

「I will personally annihilate these terrorist bastards!」

“Did you see the newspaper?”

Duterte’s appearance in the Davao local newspaper had been somewhat enhanced by the Photoshop skills of an elder. His statement quickly became a slogan leading the war on terror, a common phrase seen everywhere in Davao City.

“‘Let’s annihilate the terrorist bastards!’ Sounds good, but it means a bloodbath. Don’t go out for a while.”

A company employee, putting on his suit while eating bread, firmly advised his wife. Davao City, once the safest city in the Philippines, had become a dystopia patrolled by suspicious DDS members and their henchmen. Or perhaps it always had been.

Isn’t the current government a controlling totalitarian regime from some perspectives? The central government couldn’t properly exert its power, and local influential families controlled the regions, dominating the Philippines. The military and police had long been corrupt, and terrorist attacks were already frequent outside Davao. It was an exception that it had exploded so extremely this time.

“You might end up as crocodile food.”

It’s hard to know if it’s true, but stories circulated that criminals caught by the DDS were becoming hearty dinners for crocodiles or dying in explosions at quarries. Just rumors, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire, right?

Even if such things happened, no one could stop these atrocities. How could they defend criminals? But the problem is that Duterte isn’t just killing criminals; he’s killing everything that opposes him.

Reporters trying to expose Duterte’s dark side, political rivals trying to undermine his position—it’s funny that these people are the most honest. At least they pretend to ‘care for the citizens’ on the surface, right? Openly giving and receiving bribes is very common in the Philippines.

Someone said that democracy is a tree that grows by eating blood. So true. But the democracy tree growing in the Philippines seems gluttonous. Even if a tree drinks a lot of water, too much will rot the roots, but this one is growing well while absorbing so much blood.

Even if trees differ by species, if the insides are the same, the limits should be similar, but the Philippines endlessly consumes nutrients. If it ate it, the growth should be visible, but only the innocent branches are getting emaciated.

‘Damn it.’

The company employee slammed the newspaper onto the table. Startled, he looked around and sighed in relief when he realized he was still inside his house.

If Duterte’s followers had seen it, he might have been dragged to a secluded alley and handed over to the DDS. Then he’d really get to explore a crocodile’s intestines. He didn’t want that.

‘He said that if he becomes president, Manila Bay will become a sea of blood, but is he thinking of turning Davao Bay into a sea of blood first?’

“I have to go.”

“You be careful too, dear.”

The only reassuring thing was, ironically, that this was just the outskirts, but because it was Davao. Since the public power, led by the DDS, had begun to move in full force, there was a certainty that terrorist attacks wouldn’t happen again, at least. Instead, some innocent people would be caught, but society was prepared to offer some innocent scapegoats for the sake of safety.

Whether this should be called resolve, I don’t know, but selfishness—the idea that it’s okay as long as it’s not me—was rampant throughout the Philippines.

“Crazy politics in a crazy political situation.”

Maybe Duterte is right, at least for now. Davao had good security, after all. But if you remember that he, who lives in such Davao, also has a backer for safety, Duterte might be wrong.

The company employee’s current backer was al-Qaeda. He already had several backers to continue his life even before al-Qaeda.

Rather, it was harder to find someone living in the Philippines who didn’t have a backer. The Philippines was a den that operated on the order created by cartels, so it was only natural.

Then, on a friend’s recommendation, he got a backer who would definitely retaliate, but looking at the situation, it was clear that it was a backer that shouldn’t be had in Davao, at least. Well, the fact that it was an Islamic organization that received money from Catholics was also uncomfortable, so it was a good thing.

‘Then, is it time for me to pull out of al-Qaeda?’

He had no intention of holding onto a sinking ship. If a hole is drilled in the ship, isn’t it common sense to switch ships? Even if al-Qaeda protects them, would a mere terrorist group be stronger than the national authority? Of course, there might be such places, but at least such a place was not Davao.

Furthermore, looking at the picture of Duterte holding a gun, it didn’t seem like they would be able to retaliate because they were busy being wiped out. When things get busy, financiers like the company employee are rather cut off.

‘Now is the most appropriate time. I should cut ties as of today.’

The company employee, who crammed bread into his mouth with water, grabbed his briefcase and opened the front door, then suddenly looked at his wife and left the entrance, dreaming of the day he would escape the Philippines as soon as possible.