Reflections on the Christine Lee case
On Thursday, the photo of a man made rounds in social media. He was the primary suspect in the death of the 16-year-old whose flesh has been peeled from her skull. He was Jonas Bueno, also a primary suspect for a similar case that transpired in Danao City early this year. The rage from netizens started to pour in, like he was the ultimate target for everyone’s anger. Calls for him to be skinned alive started to surface. The following day, the police denied allegations that they released the photo and the information that they already arrested the suspect. Bummer!
I cannot imagine the shame the PNP had to go through and their damage control of the situation. No retraction was made but the blame was ultimately pointed out to the media outfits that ran the stories spreading wrong information. It is true that everybody wants the speedy resolution of the case, but we must also be careful as this is a sensitive one. With the development of the investigation I have learned a lot of things.
For one, the public on social media are not at all times serious. Even Christine Lee’s family had to cry foul over the memes that were circulating with the photo of her body. Who thinks it's funny? Some crazy person thinks it is okay to laugh at a dead person with no consideration about how the family will feel. Not only that, trolls mashed up old photos of suspects labeling it as the ones who did the crime. Others believed them, which makes this odd story more interesting. Please, let us all know where our social media ethics are.
I know that we are all eager to find justice for Christine. But what about the 60-year-old man who was also skinned in Danao? Shouldn't we cry for justice for him too? At this point, we should not be hypocritical in our stand with the issues that hound the story of this girl. We say that we fight for human rights but then we want death penalty back. There is no gray portion in the question of a person's right to life, there is only black and white.
The bounty is now up to P2 million and help is starting to pour in for the family. We can help to not aggravate the situation by making sure that all we share on our social media pages are vetted and attributed to a source. Also, if we truly want to help the family, more financial help is welcome. After her remains are laid to rest, there will be a grueling legal battle with the suspects. Plus they have to deal with the threat to their own security. Their lives will be changed forever.
Lastly, we pray that the perpetrators will be apprehended by the police and may he be alive so he may tell the tale of this unusual story. He deserves more than what he did, but we also deserve to hear the truth.
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