If only the cops had not been so fucking trigger-happy, they could have had an unequivocal winner once they captured the killers. Instead, by bringing everything to such an abrupt and gruesome end, they just might have wrested defeat from the jaws of victory.

I’m sure the families would have preferred knowing for sure it was these men that did it. But now, when will that truth ever come out?

I cannot and will not condone anything that resembles a bounty hunter run amok. I cannot and will not condone any extra-judicial killings, and I will not condone the murder of any person, without his or her day in court. It’s all about human rights, and not Godly rights. No one is God, and no one has the right to act like God. No one has the right to be judge jury and executioner at any given time, and to be just that only promotes even more violence.

This post is about those who were massacred in the RCBC bank robbery. It’s an emotional time for many individuals, and even those who didn’t know the victims personally. Because the death of innocent lives, especially how these individuals died, is always a cause for mourning. And even in my anger, I must stop myself, at the point at which I would condone a “simple” retaliatory course of action towards these bank robbers.

Is it eye for an eye? Who has the right to take a human life and who has the right to make that decision? And if taking another human life is the norm, even if it is that of a criminal, then who in the end becomes the righteous? These killers didn’t give a damn when they shot their victims in cold blood, but that’s what makes us different from these evil bastards. Unless we want to make vague the line between these criminals and ourselves, we cannot give in to the natural reaction of taking the same actions on these monsters.

Are we to take the law into our own hands, that death is such an easy task to render upon another individual, that we can just do this and call it a day.

Yes, if we are to now abide by the rule of eye for an eye, where does it all end? When we all become blind?

Damn those who can condone such deaths, in the name of protecting society. If they so wish such a society, then let them be the killers of both the innocent and the guilty. Let the blood of the dead run through their hands, and then let’s ask this question once more.

It is easy to say that death is right for these criminals, but it is different when you yourself have to pull that trigger. It changes a person, from the core, and let’s not delude ourselves, that such killings, does not also change a nation, and a republic.

And I agree with Arbet, on the need to strengthen our justice system. If there is anything that needs to be done, it is not to take justice into our own hands, but maybe to actually let the justice system work, and help it out, and help strengthen it.

This has been my stand even on the extra-judicial killings of activists, media, as well as the NPA themselves. Having first hand experience with the environment of lawlessness that pervades the NPA and military conflict in the province, it seems, that everyone is the loser. The military who loses young and brave soldiers, the NPA members who are foolish enough to have an armed conflict against the military, and the residents of such towns who live in fear of both the NPA and the military. When justice is done on the streets (or jungles), the environment does not shift from violence to peace, it just remains violent.

And this is the sad result of willfully forgoing the courts, that it soon becomes clear, that no one is in control, and that every man for themselves becomes the law of the land. Actions such as killing criminals, outside of the courts, may seem like justice, and it may even bring momentary peace.. But long lasting peace it will never bring. Are we that stupid to think that Robin Hood and his Merry Men shoot bow and arrows, and criminals fall dead.. without blood? Without a community being affected? There are repercussions to such actions, and a crime deterrent it will never be.

I am as angered as any other Filipino in these deaths, in these murders, and may the worst become of these criminals who perpetrated this massacre. But, another long stint of extra-judicial killings for the sake of good, is not in my rulebook.

Blind citizens we will be, when we abide by eye for an eye, until we stop and actually look at the results of such retaliatory actions. Let us mourn, let us be angered, let us strengthen the justice system, and let us bring these scumbags to trial, but let us not stoop to the levels of a murdering society.

Two of my esteemed co-bloggers here at Filipino Voices have already expressed their opinion (in Rom’s case, her anguish), and this part from Atty. Butch’s post caught my interest:

I’m certain the RCBC murderers took some cold, cruel comfort, while they were pulling the triggers on their victims, from the knowledge that, however heinous their crimes, they would never be lawfully executed by the State.

But they can be extralegally executed, right? Calling Fred Lim and/or Rod Duterte and/or Jovito Palparan. Kidding aside, what’s forty years if you can survive that long? You can launder the money with ease, and get to enjoy the fruits of their crimes afterwards? Of course, that depends on the judge and the prosecution’s evidence. Heck, if I were to handle this case, my judgment (if ever the suspects were truly guilty) would be simple: reclusion perpetua for each murdered victims without any possibility of parole.

However, these criminals take comfort in the fact that it would take some time for the justice system to get them: for the police to apprehend them, for the prosecution to file cases, for the judge to hear the case, till the time the Supreme Court upholds the guilty verdict. That is assuming on several factors: that the police would get them, that the evidence would be overwhelming, that the suspects would hire great lawyers who could delay the proceedings, bribe the judge, or the prosecuting team could be weak. Money makes the world go round, and it can even buy justice. And of course, these criminals know that even if they are found guilty, they will die of sickness or old age, not murder, unless they survive the jungle called National Bilibid Prisons.

In short, they committed the crime because they knew the odds are stacked against the People of the Philippines. Our justice system works in favor of the suspects. And that is why I perfectly understand the sentiments of Atty. Butch and Rom.

We can always do our part as citizens of this country in making our justice system work. Sometimes we have to forgo our concept of self-preservation (the concept that currently ails this country). When we see a crime, report it immediately. When you know something about a crime, contact the police. We should not hesitate to stand as witness during a trial. If a relative has committed a crime, report it immediately; if possible, turn him/her over to the police. Follow the law. It is not easy, but these things must be done in order for our justice system to work. I do not have to state the otherwise part.

Of course, we should call on the police to do their part. Please bring back the police-on-the-beat. Please, Mr. Policeman, get a buddy and start walking the streets again. If it means going back to the brown uniform, so be it. Please get off your airconditioned precints/police cars, and walk with us.

And if you know something about this horrendous crime, please, mighty please, tell the police. If one of the criminals is a family member, please forget blood ties – report him/her to the police. For what is money tainted with blood? That makes you a criminal, too.

Let us make our justice system work. Let us make criminal’s lives harder. Let us make crimes pay.

—

Dedicated to those who forget what accountability and command responsibility are.

You’ll probably forget those names not five minutes after you’ve read them. But that isn’t what they deserve. These were people killed by people who wanted money that wasn’t theirs and who didn’t want anyone getting in their way or maybe screwing up their enjoyment of the money they stole.

Everyone agrees that these 10 people deserve justice. Of course they do. But what good is justice for them now? What good is justice for their families? And besides, what justice?

The President has ordered that the killers should, as Lorelei Fajardo put it, be brought to the bar of justice. Excellent soundbite, which is about all it is, because if you were to really bite into those nice words, you would find no meat, no substance. Just air.

How many times have we heard it said that this or that killer will be brought before the bar of justice? And yet the list of the unavenged grows longer everyday, while the list of those who have been actually held to account grows – if at all – only at a snail’s pace. The words disconnect with reality.

I’m sure the President meant it; who wouldn’t? But there is a difference between wanting something to happen – such as wanting to bring murderers to justice for instance – and that thing actually happening. And so it is particularly galling when the President “vows” to bring justice when she must know that her government has so far had a dismal record in that department. It just rings too hollow, Madame. And it tastes like ashes on our tongues.

Far better, I think, for everyone whose appointed duty it is to protect the lives of Filipinos, to just hang their heads in shame. Their mortification will mean much more than empty condolences and fist-shaking vows of righteous vengeance.

In the meantime, add these names to the list of the unavenged.

Roberto Panganiban Castro. Ferdinand Bernard Antonio. Benjamin Manalo Nicdao Jr. Bernardo Lapaan Jr. Noel Olaes Miranda. Juan Marza Layva. Aguilando Baltazar. Olga Gonzalez. Teresita Umayao. Isagani Pastor.