Jensen's Facebook post:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10210740443403512&set=a.4767314337091.2194425.1122393013&type=3&theater
The Philippines is a country on fire, and Duterte is the fire chief tasked with trying to put out this fire. He has prioritized the rights of ordinary Filipinos victimized by this fire started by the corrupt, the druglords, and other criminals. As long as he continues to have such an overwhelming support of Filipinos, he has every right to prioritize the way he does, paying little attention to the rights of criminals in order to save the country.
A firefighter, for instance, is allowed to ignore traffic rules and speed limits in order to get to the scene of a burning building as quickly as possible. He is allowed to break down a door or window, and thereby violate the private property of someone else, in order to save a life. He is allowed to knock down a pyromaniac, and thereby violate that person’s right to be free from violence, if the person gets in his way of trying to stop the fire disaster.
Jensen also compared Duterte’s role to that of a firefighter’s having to violate some rules in order to save people. That by doing his job as a president, breaking other laws sometimes become a necessity.
That our fundamental rights as citizens have never been absolute. Your rights end where mine start. If you violate my rights, you relinquish yours. If my rights surpass your rights in importance, your rights matter little.
All countries, even the most progressive of countries, allow laws to be set aside for a greater purpose. By extension, the rights of others may likewise also be set aside for a greater purpose. This is called the legal doctrine of necessity and self-defense, which can be found in the criminal codes of all countries.
On his Facebook post today, Kristian Ligsay Jensen explains why Duterte is just right to exercise the legal doctrine of necessity as found in the criminal codes of all countries. According to Wikipedia, the Doctrine of Necessity is the basis on which extra-legal actions by state actors (public officials), which are designed to restore order, are found to be constitutional.
Those who whine about what they perceive to be Duterte’s lax attitude towards human rights overlook one thing.
