I would rather turn a blind eye on death penalty for the suspects rather than a blind eye and deaf ears for the victims cries and their families anguish. The suspects should not be given any mercy because they refused to give it to the victims. But still, this is just me.

The price of justice, if you take the “legal” route, via Police then a Court of Law is massively high— lawyers, expense, not to mention time (years) is no joke. Heck, you need to grease the palm of everybody from the ground up just to ensure you don’t get cheated in your pursuit of justice. It is easy to accept vigilante justice when all it takes is a one time payment to a bounty hunter and problem solved.

The Philippines is like the Wild West.

We have things like “laws” that quite often fall on deaf ears. They can easily be twisted and it happens every day from the most mundane thing to the big things like national scandals. Hell, we made such a mess of that impeachment trial, it hunts us to this day.

Part of me could turn a blind eye if the police should ever find those bastards and I hope those bastards run and fight it out so the police can use their guns but a greater part of me would forever have doubts if those people were really the killers and not fall guys.

The law in the Philippines is such travesty. Wild, wild West, from right out a movie.

Oh, one more thing, you are absolutely right that extra judicial killings have no place in any society much less, a Catholic one. Death penalty for one thing doesn’t work. Seriously, drug pushers, murders— these guys live day in and day out with the threat of death, are we deluding ourselves to think we can scare them with death? A lifetime in our jails, such as they are… is that a fate worst than death?

I don’t doubt that this too will become a page 3 news item, as long as no new developments will become of it. And so, the only way for this to become relevant and remain “news” is for the authorities to actually do their job, and develop leads into this heinous crime.

News, by its very nature, needs new information for it to remain in the front pages. It is however, the choice of the editor to keep any story relevant by highlighting it… As we will definitely do here..

This is why, as in the case of Burgos, we need to encourage family members and others to make noise, and keep in front of the limelight, if only for the rest of The Philippine citizenry to realize that the case is still ongoing and unsolved.

For me therefore guiding term is reflection.

We need to reflect on things first and regard their place in the bigger scheme instead of delegating thought to those who merely incite at grandiose and unsustainable scales or extents.

Just as I’ve always been disturbed how mudslides and flashfloods that kill thousands in one go quickly get relegated to Page 3 or 4 by the Philippine press within a day or two (in favour of political circuses that stay on Page One for MONTHS at a time), I’ve always been disturbed at how Filipinos have become so accustomed to going through life tolerating, even within their small circles, a society where injustice is DEEPLY INGRAINED into the cultural fabric yet throw tantrums whenever a crime of national proportions is “exposed” by one senator or another.