Wake up call for the president

The circumstances that have emerged regarding the death of teenager Kian Loyd delos Santos in the hands of Caloocan police are increasingly pointing to the possibility that he was in fact summarily killed and not that he tried to fight back during an anti-drug operation last August 16. Even President Duterte has ordered the arrest of the policemen involved.

Perhaps this is the long-awaited incident that will finally make the president realize that while almost everybody is behind him in his relentless war against illegal drugs, it still does not help his war if his men just kill everyone on sight simply because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Restraint does not mean holding back on his war. It simply means making sure an operation is going right.

Despite backlash from his known political enemies, as well as human rights groups and foreign leaders, Duterte remains strong because of the popular support he continues to enjoy. Without that support, however, Duterte will eventually lose his war and, more importantly, become ineffective in his much larger responsibility of leading the country.

Duterte must remember that he is needed not just in the drug war and that other great war he is waging against corruption, he is also much needed in pretty much everything about governance. There is, for example, the problem in the South China Sea. That is a responsibility that lies squarely on his shoulders and not on anyone else. There is also the matter of growing the economy.

The list could go on and on that it might even eclipse everything that is going on in the illegal drug front. In other words, Duterte must realize that he is president of everyone and everything at every time, at least for the duration of his sixyear term. He simply cannot afford to drop the ball and risk losing the game. And drop the ball he can if he is not careful, because like everyone else, he is not perfect and can make mistakes.

And it does not help that he has this fatalistic attitude toward everything. It is not as simple as saying he is willing to resign or be sent to prison if he is proven wrong or that he is willing to die for what he believes in. The Filipino people elected him to lead, not to die on them, or to leave them in mid-stream. There will be plenty of time for that after he is no longer president. But while he is, he needs to lead with a receptive heart and a level head.