EDITORIAL – Bring them to justice

Who stands to benefit from murdering the head of the labor union of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac? There is no obvious answer, and everyone must refrain from jumping to conclusions. The only sure thing here is that the murder of Ricardo Ramos has provoked outrage, and not just among his peers in Hacienda Luisita, the sugar estate owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino. Violence has no place in a free society and anyone who resorts to it in furtherance of whatever cause must be strongly condemned.

Perpetrators of any violent act must be arrested quickly and made to answer for the crime. This case must not be added to the long list of unsolved murders in this country. Already certain irresponsible groups are fanning speculation that can only lead to more violence. The political climate is tense enough without bloodshed triggering a social conflagration.

Ramos was reportedly celebrating with some friends the resolution of the labor dispute at Luisita when he was felled by two rifle bullets to the head. He was not the only militant victim of violence this week. Yesterday morning, Francisco Rivera of Bayan Muna and two friends were killed while they were jogging near Rivera’s home in Pampanga. Last night the coordinator for Bulacan of the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytors Nationwide, Federico de Leon, was also gunned down.

Under intense public pressure to produce results, law enforcement authorities must make sure they will have an airtight case against anyone they present to the public as a suspect. Solving the two murders requires painstaking sleuthing. There should be no room for speculation that suspects have been framed, that fall guys have been rounded up simply so that authorities can announce that a case has been solved.

These are dark, confusing times. Sinister forces are at work and must not be allowed to prevail. Law enforcers can do their part by seeing to it that murderers – from the triggermen to the brains – are brought to justice.