Avoiding the road to perdition

With all the horrible news about the gruesome Ampatuan massacre filling up every square inch of every respectable broadsheet (and rightfully so), sadly, the coverage around the manhunt for the cold blooded killer that took the life of 27-year-old Renato Victor Ebarle, Jr., seems to be disappearing into the back pages of our dailies, tucked up beneath the Super Lotto ads. I’m not saying that our authorities have dropped the ball on this case – I know they are under a lot of pressure to get it stitched up – but I’m more concerned about how it seems to be losing a lot of valuable publicity.

I can’t help but feel that had it not been for the heinous attacks in Maguindanao, perhaps we would all be expressing more outrage at this case. Please don’t misinterpret this as an attempt to dilute the severity of the crime against democracy, human rights and, well, God himself, but that is precisely what I don’t want to happen in this road rage case. An innocent life was senselessly snuffed out and we should not stand for it. Just because it is only one life, it doesn’t make it any less valuable.

The person responsible needs to feel our outrage. He needs to feel our collective anger and wrath so that he, too, might experience the same fear he struck into the heart of his victim just moments before extinguishing his life for the sake of a traffic altercation. An effing traffic altercation, for crying out loud.

I’m sorry to use such gutter talk to get my point across, but seriously, does whatever the hell it was that irked the suspect to begin with seem so important now? Important enough to kill for? And that I guess is what each and every one of us has to ask ourselves every time we lose our cool on the roads. Every time you are cut off by an inconsiderate counter-flower or honked by a rude motorist, take a deep breath before you react and ask yourself if it will still matter in 24 hours? Is it really worth dying for?

I know that is easier said than done, and I would be a hypocrite if I claimed that I have never lost my temper and either yelled or made hand gestures at these neanderthals, but as I get older (and hopefully wiser) I have learned to pick my battles. Sometimes, even if it is a matter of principle, I just let it go. Will it make me any less of a man on judgment day? Will the good Lord look at me and say, “You cannot enter my kingdom because you failed to stand up to that idiot who was driving down the wrong side of the road” No. Because as self important as I would like to feel, that is not my job. That’s what our authorities are for.

Which brings me to the flip side of the coin. Unless we want to end up like Somalia or other completely lawless lands, for this to work, our authorities need to take a zero tolerance attitude towards these gun-toting road bullies and perpetual abusers of our road rules. Start by prosecuting Ebarle’s killer to the full extent of the law and holding a completely transparent trial that will hopefully send a message to other hot heads. Then come down really hard on road bullies and enforce the existing Presidential decree 96 and jail all those who use illegal sirens and travel in abusive security convoys.

Forgive me if I sound paranoid, but I know from experience that we tend to have very short memories when it comes to these things. We jump up and down about it now, but in a couple more weeks, if nothing happens, we go back to reading about another blatant graft and corruption case or Pacquiao’s next movie.

Four years ago I made a lot of noise about another road rage case that claimed the life of one of our photographers, Mike Llorin. Mike was minding his own business in a Shell station on Congressional Avenue when he was hit by a stray bullet that came from a green Pajero that drove past. He left behind three young children and his loving wife, Donna.

There were enough witnesses, yet four long years later, the case is as cold as the blood that runs through the veins of the coward who pulled the trigger. A few articles were written, a camera crew showed up, but then it all just ran out of steam. What are the chances that the same person accused of shooting Ebarle is the same heartless, spineless coward who drove off that night? I guess we may never know. But one thing I do know is that had there been enough public outcry back then, then Mike’s killer could have been pressured to surrender and perhaps the Ebarle family would not be grieving today. Instead, because he wasn’t prominent enough perhaps, everyone just gave up.

And that brings me back to my point. Let’s not let this go. Let us be relentless. Someone somewhere knows something. If this article is stale by the time it sees print and Jason Ivler, the suspect involved in the fatal shooting of Ebarle surrenders, then let us focus our attention on Mike’s killer. Our roads have no place for these murderers. We have a responsibility to police our own standards. We need to do our bit to protect our rights and not rest until justice gets served, otherwise these vermin grow immune and then breed and create offspring that get so drunk on power that they end up thinking they can murder 64 people with chainsaws in broad daylight and walking away from it.