‘Business as usual’

At the cost of 15 dead people from the Best Link road wreck, someone ought to be hanged, shot or thrown in jail for the rest of their lives!

Of course the response will be: Cito that would be cruel, barbaric and vindictive! Failing to take “An Eye For An Eye,” people will simply go to court, get legal advise to settle instead of fight for 8 to 22 years for justice so they enter into financial settlements, money will exchange hands. Lawyers will have work and make money, a handful of employees might get fired or resign, the really guilty or people directly responsible will be relieved and walk free, the mourning families will be expected to “move on” and then it will all be “Business As Usual.”

“Sorry” will not bring them back to life. “We will cover all the expenses and support everyone” will not take away the pain, the injury and their agony. Rationalizing the activity that led to the death of 15 people will not make sense of their untimely and violent death. Spreading the blame and responsibility adds insult to loss and injury. Bringing in lawyers as spokespersons spells blatant callousness and an act of self-preservation if not legal protection.

Listening to what some people from Best Link Colleges and the bus operators and their lawyer have been saying about the tragedy in Tanay that killed 15 people makes me want to puke! Yes you did not want the accident to happen but that does not take away the pain, the loss and the senselessness of their premature deaths. Thank you for being there and reassuring all the parents that you will give financial and moral support. But does that make it alright? Does it make you a good and responsible citizen just because you play the part required in a tragic event, which is to show up or send your lawyer and say you’ll cover the costs?

Yes I am angry and it is because I know only too well that none of those really responsible will actually pay the real price or suffer the correct punishment for directly or indirectly causing the death of 15 people. They will simply call on their lawyers to negotiate and issue the checks. Our culture of “Areglo” and “Awa” (negotiated settlements and pity) constantly undermine real justice as well as the countless opportunities to teach our people that there is a price to pay for this kind of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicides, but I won’t call it that.

I classify it as involuntary manslaughter because you did not want for the accident to happen but that does not and should not change the fact that people died under your watch and therefore were your responsibility. As brutal and unforgiving as it sounds I can imagine one or two parents asking some school official or bus operator: If you did everything to insure their safety, why were you not beside them; why did you not die with them? All the time we hear about drivers being charged with Reckless Imprudence in connection with vehicular accidents. But that stupid blanket charge or accusation is more for the benefit of the authorities being able to say “We filed appropriate charges” even if the accused is actually not guilty. It is simply slapped on the guy behind the wheel and then it’s “case closed.”

I have never heard of anyone being charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Philippines, which leads me to believe that such a law does not exist in our country. If not, then now is the time to write the law for the Philippines because this will somehow appropriately expand or cover all others directly or indirectly related or responsible for the accidental deaths of employees, civilians etc. It opens a window of opportunity for the state and victims to sue or file charges against government officials, private persons for failing to do their jobs correctly and involuntarily or accidentally causing the death or injury to others.

The prevailing law according to my friend Atty. Robbie Consunji is “gross negligence” which to me sounds more like a law that gives protection to the accused and the burden on the complainants to prove gross negligence. It also limits liability or fault directly to the person who caused injury or death such as the driver but not to organizers, owners or employers. That’s the reason people started talking about “signed waivers” from parents.

So the next time a child falls into a manhole and drowns, when laborers die of suffocation inside a chemical storage tank or fall off a building, when children die during a field trip, we can no longer call it an accident as if you got hit by lightning or killed in a typhoon. With involuntary manslaughter we actually tighten the legal noose on many more who could get away with murder by labeling it “an accident.”

The reality and culture of awa and areglo proves beyond doubt how corrupt and perverted our Justice System is and how twisted our national mindset is when we prefer to be civilized and forgiving toward  unrepentant individuals who have money and connections or well paid lawyers. When justice can be replaced with cash – we have no justice. How on earth can you deny responsibility or liability in the face of all those dead kids? Why does the government encourage settlements in the face of blatant recklessness and manslaughter? Because they are too damned lazy to do their jobs.

Members of Congress must review this national mindset and natural instinct for areglo because it shows that Filipinos have no confidence and don’t believe they will get justice so they simply settle. Awa or mercy is just an excuse. Intentional or involuntary, manslaughter is a crime and all who are guilty must be punished.

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