EDITORIAL - A stroke of genius

Ruel Rey Torres, who rose to notoriety as the main suspect in a series of high profile robberies, is expected to be released from the hospital soon, minus of course one of his legs, which had to be amputated.

You see, Torres got shot in the leg in the course of his capture in Mindanao a few weeks ago by a crack team of Cebu City policemen. His leg wound did not get immediate medical attention and festered.

Most journalists in Cebu were surprised when news of the capture of Torres broke. The surprise did not come from a lack of faith in the long arm of the law eventually getting Torres. Rather, it came from the fact that he was taken alive.

Even up to this day, Cebu is still in the grip of vigilante killings. Just the other day alone, the 63rd victim (presumably) was gunned down. Given the notoriety of Torres, it was almost a given that he would eventually bite the dust in a hail of bullets.

Well, a hail of bullets in fact shattered the crisp mountain air in a lonely stretch of Mindanao highway a few weeks ago. But wonder of wonders, when the smoke of battle cleared, Torres emerged with his life intact. Only a limb was shattered.

At the time, it did not occur to many that perhaps, that was the way it was meant to be. Again, the expectation had been for Torres to be taken out, you know, the way things turn out for the bad guys in the movies.

On hindsight, Torres was probably too high-profile to be taken out at the time. Not that he had a cult following. No, nothing of the sort. But there was bound to be some media flap if he had been killed. You know, the mountain out of a molehill thingy.

True to their reputation of being among Cebu's finest, the fine police officers who went after Torres probably realized there was no sense killing Torres if he can be neutralized in some other way. And, boy, did they hit on a "delicious" idea.

Now, Torres not only cannot terrorize Cebu again, that is, unless he regenerates and grows another leg, but he gets to spend the remaining years of his life pondering his fate. For a man like Torres, that is the worst form of mental torture he can be made to endure.