Let me react to Conrado de Quiros' column "Rage against the dying of the light." (Inquirer, 5/23/07)
Frankly speaking, we Filipinos have no idea of what justice really means. No country, where too many injustices are committed and its people don't do something to stop them, has ever progressed. The reason for this is that, whenever an opportunity or a challenge presents itself to us to test our capabilities as a nation, we blink.
Our country's violent political landscape is comparable to that of Afghanistan and Iraq, whether during election time or normal times. Every day, we always hear news of a journalist, a leftist, a police officer, or even a public official being killed or gone missing.
The Philippines today can be compared to America at the time of Al Capone, whose goons were deeply embedded in every fabric of society. We can't trust the military because we can't get over the trauma of Marcos' martial law; we can't go to the police because some of them are themselves the crime suspects; and we can't get any help from the media because some of them have been bought by the powers-that-be.
Who wants help from the communists? Certainly not us who want a democratic, peaceful and just life. How about from our public servants? Most of them are hated by the people because they operate like Capone's mafia, buying government positions and killing people to get things done.
De Quiros is right. Cheating, lying, stealing and killing are all around us, staring us in the face even. The question is, do we Filipinos have the balls to fight these evils? The United States went after Capone and other high-profile criminals.
A good start for us is to jail those high officials guilty of cheating, lying, stealing and killing. That will be the only time Lady Justice and God will start looking at us kindly.
(taken from the Letters to the Editor PDI May 30,2007 issue)
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