To the judiciary belongs the task of determining the guilt or absence thereof of Winifredo Miro, accused of being the brains behind the slay of the late Ermita chief Felicisimo Rupinta.
Miro, a former Ermita barangay councilman ought to be given his day in court if only to underscore the importance of every human being’s right to due process in a time when it is being disrespected as in the case of street killings that Malacañang prefers to portray as potential cases of homicide rather than extra-judicial killings.
Consistency in hoping for peace as we bid goodbye to another year bids us situate the killing of Rupinta within the wider phenomenon of bloodshed that has marked our country this year.
Whoever decreed that Rupinta should die belongs to the very club of addled minds that have been recruiting people to hit squads that eliminate suspected drug personalities or to armed groups like the Maute and others in Mindanao who perversely think their anarchism will breed some sort of justice.
These crooks are of the same sort who have kept the Philippines notorious for journalism, a country that is this year’s most dangerous place in Asia for journalists notwithstanding the President’s creation of a task force to expedite the pursuit of scribe killers.
Their vileness also runs in the blood of those who frequently upset the lives of indigenous peoples with their war games or of the armed left who still campaign for peace using soldiers and their guns.
What makes otherwise good men and women think that by silencing their enemies with the silence of death they will be free to live as they please, that their deeds in the darkness will not come to light?
We can only hope that those who live by the sword regain their sense of guilt and hunger for peace that are preludes to surrender while good men and women among our authorities remain safe as they bring perpetrators of misdeeds to justice.
We hope too that some genuine change happens with the President. Every word he utters has the force of policy regardless of the protestations of his handlers.
May they as soon as possible see the light, the clear link between his mantra, “I will kill you” and the terror that reigns over the archipelago, and counsel him to reverse course.
May the President put pith into his hyperbolic expressions of patriotism, saying that he will die for his country if need be, and wake up to see that he is killing his countrymen with lethal ranting.
Not for naught did our national hero Jose Rizal, whose death we commemorate today, refuse the Katipunan’s calls for armed revolt. There are always better ways to settle conflict.
Our people neither desire nor deserve another year of gore. Let the President and our leaders think peace and speak peace. That will go a long way towards weakening the hold of violence on our land.