Team DailyPedia
The “Walk of Shame” is an ongoing campaign being implemented (as of this writing) in Tanauan City, Batangas as an anti-crime measure. Arrested and suspected drug pushers are paraded around the city wearing signs declaring their crimes with a warning that they should not be emulated.
The Tanauan City Walk of Shame also uses contemporary themes to further humiliate arrested perpetrators in public. The most recent controversial ones were the Flores de Pusher which was based on the annual Filipino tradition of “Flores de Mayo” and the June Bride and Groom where arrested pushers and users went around as newly wedded couples bearing the signs.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has been criticizing this shame campaign by Tanauan Mayor Antonio “Thony” Halili. CHR director for Southern Tagalog Jacqueline Ann de Guia stated that suspects submitted affidavits claiming they were humiliated. De Guia said that the Anti-Torture Law prohibits the public display or humiliation of any detainee or prisoner.
“They were not convicted yet. The charges weren’t even filed when they were made to walk,” De Guia said.
This is not the first time that the Tanauan City Walk of Shame has been implemented. A suspected dried fish (tuyo) thief whose hands were bound with a plastic bag of tuyo was paraded on the streets back in 2012 according to the CHR. The Tanuan City Mayor told Radyo Inquirer 990AM that his “shame campaign” was effective and that CHR was wrong to question the anti-crime crusade.
“Kayo sa CHR, may trabaho kayo, hindi ko kayo masisisi dahil trabaho nyo yan, pero wag nyo ko sisihin dahil trabaho ko na ayusin ang bayan ko, (Those of you in CHR, you have a job, I cannot blame you because that is your job, but do not blame because it is my duty to the public),” Halili said.
Halili said that he will be submitting the names of drug dealers in Tanauan to the Philippine National Police as directed by president Rodrigo Duterte.
