Murder, No Cause for Jubilation But...

Inquirer article "Odicta deaths bring peace to village".

          "Odicta deaths bring peace to village", so reads the Inquirer headline.

          Murder is no cause for jubilation but I also cannot question this result.  I do not want to see a country riddled with murders just as I have, for so long, wanted to see drastic changes in the quality of life for the ordinary Filipino.

          But this is reality on the ground.  Perhaps more so here in the periphery.  Someone from the highest post in the land sent a message.  "It has to stop." -- Drugs.  Corruption.  Disregard for the law.

          Here is a village where criminals were once mighty and proud while the law-abiding and poor citizens in fear, uneasy silence, or resignation.

"Eliseo Rubinas, a resident of Barangay Tanza-Esperanza for 40 years, said he feels safer in his village now."

          One comment in the post reads:

for the non believers, the story of this community is also the story in my corner of the country. relative peace exists now. those into drugs used to run their loud motor bikes up and down the barangay streets in all hours of the night. but now, it's all quiet after sunset, just the way we like it. those billy b_a_d arses are either scared to death to come out of their houses or kicked the habit altogether. good news (kontra_boohaya)

          Is this good news?  Should I be pleased?  Honestly,  I somehow share the comment-makers thoughts.  Incredulous as this may seem, a poor community such as ours, populated by 4Ps beneficiaries,  has in recent years started to afford drugs.  This again, is the reality on the ground, in the periphery.  

          There is now this feeling that somehow, those who rule the place, are afraid that the law's spirit, with whatever mysterious and frightening claws it has,  can finally scratch and choke them.

           I wish this apparent fear growing in the minds of evil-doers, criminals and corrupt local officials would have been born out of Lady Justice's immaculate womb.  It wasn't.  I just hope and pray that as this is rooted out, the Rule of Law, with proper and timely intervention, would somehow be peacefully assimilated and respected by our people.  Not possible, others may counter.  But I argue not with mere reason but with the mystic belief in God's Sovereignty and the power of Paradox.



Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/825959/odicta-deaths-bring-peace-to-village#ixzz4NKBj14cv
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