Cardboard signs

Honor student, church choir member and was supposed to graduate from Mass Communications this October, Rowena Tiamson, 22, was found tied up, her face wrapped in packaging tape, and the now familiar cardboard sign strung around her neck stating she was a pusher and should not be emulated.

Really?

Tiamson is one of two students killed in Pangasinan by vigilantes who have literally been let loose by President Duterte's non-compromising stand on drugs. A seeming "kill them all, let God sort them out" stand.

The police have admitted that Tiamson was not on their "watch list" of drug addicts or pushers. Incidentally, whenever a body turns up, obviously a victim of summary execution, and the police come out saying that he or she was on their list, it seems the end of that. No investigation, no task force, nothing. When asked if they condone vigilantism, the canned response is no, and that's it.

It's plausible deniability at its worst. Will they even try to find Tiamson's killers? Or is the presence of a cardboard sign enough proof for the police to label the case closed?

The question is, where are these vigilantes getting the so-called list that seems to direct them straight to the "appropriate" targets?

How can Rowena Tiamson defend herself? No one in her family, her community, her peers believe she was into illegal drugs, let alone pushing them. But apparently the "DDS" has condemned her to die, based on whatever constitutes proof for them.

This only shows that anybody can be found tied up, face wrapped up in tape, and a sign hung around the neck stating the reason for the execution. These death squads can now target anyone they, or whoever is pulling their strings, are asked to kill. This is President Duterte's campaign against illegal drugs spiraling out of control.

How can people feel safe in a society where all it takes to justify a murder is a cardboard sign linking one to illegal drugs?

Duterte's statement in his SONA on human rights is rightly seen as an oxymoron by Human Rights Watch. Where are the rights of Tiamson to defend herself and clear her name?

You would think a twenty-two year old honor student would be given a chance but no, not in this administration. And yet we have the likes of this Army reservist who clearly executes a biker he had an altercation with, even hitting an innocent bystander.

The whole incident caught on CCTV, with all the information available to the police. The difference is, he is still at large, breathing, and if he surrenders would probably be given his day in court.

Are we all going to wait until this hits home? Until someone we know or love becomes another victim of this brand of justice?

Perhaps we should all wear cardboard signs of our own, stating that we have been tested negative for drugs, not on the PNP watch list of pushers and addicts, with the President's seal of approval, if only to make us immune from these death squads.

Like the lamb's blood on the doors of the Jews in Egypt. The country's version of the Passover. It would be funny if it did not make sense.