EDITORIAL — Culture of violence

The earth had not yet fully settled on the grave of 17-year-old Jerhode Baltazar when another young man was killed in northern Metro Manila. Daniel Gaudia Soria, 20, was shot dead in Malabon City on the night of Sept. 2, a month to the day Baltazar was killed by pursuing policemen in neighboring Navotas.

Soria’s killers have not been identified. Police have denied involvement in the murder, amid speculation that he was the shooting suspect being pursued by the Navotas policemen who mistakenly shot dead Baltazar.

The live-in partner of Soria, LA Moral, said the shooting suspect in Navotas was her cousin Reynaldo Bolivar, who was drinking with Soria shortly before the murder. Moral described Soria and Baltazar as acquaintances who occasionally played basketball. She said that shortly before midnight, she had received a text message telling her that Soria was dead. Witnesses said a rider on a motorcycle had shot Soria in the leg as he got out of a tricycle in Barangay Longos. He managed to run, but was finished off with six more shots to the body.

There is supposed to be a gun ban in place for the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. And yet armed attacks, often lethal, have been reported almost every day since the gun ban went into effect, with several of the cases linked to BSKE rivalries. Even in recent road rage cases in Metro Manila, one or both of the parties involved, whether civilian, cop or ex-cop, packed guns.

If authorities cannot curb the proliferation of firearms during a gun ban, think of what the situation must be when the ban is not in place. The country already has the dubious distinction of being Asia’s homicide central. This is one of the minuses for investors considering where to put their money in the region, and for tourists who want some assurance of personal safety in travel destinations. Those tourism revenues as well as the jobs generated by long-term investments are badly needed as the country struggles to recover from the devastation of the COVID pandemic.

Those who ignore the gun ban, and who have no compunctions about committing murder or abusing state power, obviously believe they can get away with breaking the law. Every unsolved crime reinforces this impunity and further entrenches the culture of violence. Authorities must exert every effort to break the impunity.