Culture of killing
It’s not every day that we hear the news of people being gunned down, well it used to be. Today it becomes the usual. It shocks us every now and then but the norm today is to ask: “Who is next?” In the past weeks we have heard of police, mayors, and priests being shot by unidentified assailants while other incidents are being tagged as legitimate operations. The usual excuse is to link them to the illegal drug trade without proper trial or due process.
Welcome to the Philippines, it’s what they always say. It’s the era of people being deprived of their rights to prove themselves because their background, their involvement is already enough to make them part of the hit list. The acquisition of a firearm is now so easy today. The illegal industry of its manufacture is being supported by bigwigs whose names remain to be untold until today. The gun-for-hire group continues to go about their businesses without hearing their conscience telling them what they are doing is wrong.
The Catholic Church has said that the culture of killing is alarming because it might become the norm in the next few months. We might reach a point when we no longer ask for justice and just let it all be. The feeling of not seeing the need to fight for what is right could possibly take over the right conscience that we have. That is how scary this new culture can become.
Can we stop all the killings? For sure, we can’t. Until there is still proliferation of illegal drugs and other criminal acts, the cycle will continue. But we can always fight for the speedy justice of those who were obviously wrongly killed. We all know our judicial system is swamped by many cases that up to today are unsolved. The judges and those working at the court cannot keep up with law enforcement and the many people that they need to hear every day. There are suggestions on how to decongest the rehabilitation facilities across the country but they remain to be plans as of today. If there are implemented solutions, there are just minute details of the whole bigger picture.
It is true that we all want to crack down on big players in the illegal drug business, as well as other crimes. But we cannot connect the bigger picture of who are behind this all if we keep on killing them. Vital information could answer a lot of questions to which we all want answers. I hope the authorities rethink all these and consider their steps when it comes to operations.
I still consider the Philippines a peaceful place, despite its being full of controversies. I hope that there would be considerations despite the iron fist that we are faced with, a leadership we have hoped for. Every day I pray for change to come, the kind of change that benefits all and the generations to come.
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