Condemning a nation to death by legislation

Sad to say: It’s done.

Stampeded by Church groups, foreign critics like the European Union, and La Gloria’s own feelings of "compassion" (politics plus piety), Congress of the Philippines has abolished the Death Penalty as the maximum punishment for heinous crimes.

After the Senate voted 16-0 with one abstention (that of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada who said, while he agreed on scrapping capital punishment, he could not vote "yes" since he still faces allegations of plunder, the penalty for which could be "death").

Oh well. Jinggoy – in that light – was correct to abstain, but he already knew the abolition measure would pass anyway. As for the House of Representatives, late Tuesday night, it scrapped the death penalty by a vote of 119-20. The Catholic bishops are in ululations of joy.

Do they know what they’ve done? Since heinous crimes can no longer be adequately punished under the Rule of Law, we’ll now be facing the era of Break-all-Rules of the Outlaw. The families of victims cruelly murdered, raped, or kidnapped with violence may no longer resort to filing cases in our Courts of law, but resort to gun-law – the Lex Talionis of the Biblical "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

Why seek limp-wristed "justice" through our slowpoke legal system? The hired-gun is a speedier solution. In the eyes of the frustrated and despairing victims who’re still painfully alive, or the kinsmen of the slain, the kind of death squads which plague many countries in Latin America (the Filipino heartbeat is closer to the hot-blooded Hispanic than the Asian, we must admit) – and are already operating in the same fashion in some of our cities and provinces – will proliferate. The victims of murder who are voiceless in their graves, muted by death, may find voice through their families’ move to avenge them, bullet for bullet – not through a legal system in which criminals and their syndicates can field the smartest and priciest lawyers, or "buy" favorable decisions.

Just consider the escalating wave of murders and assassinations in which militants, journalists, and other helpless individuals are being gunned down with alarming frequency. Now that the Death Penalty is gone, there’s nothing for the killers to fear. The "long arm of the law" has been chopped off at the elbow. Justice has no fangs. I guess our legislators and politicians will of course, entertain no second thoughts about their inane decision: the dead cannot vote.

The present is terrible enough. Now, I shudder for the future.

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Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), the English philosopher who has had a continuing influence on Western political thought, held in his writings (like "Leviathan") that self-preservation is the principal motive that causes people to give up some of their freedoms to seek the protection of a powerful sovereign. Hobbes’ concept of a social contract, with even a sovereign’s supreme rule derived from the people, influenced many other thinkers including Locke, Rousseau and Spinoza.

Here is what he declared in "Leviathan" in 1651.

"Intemperance is naturally punished with diseases: rashness, with mischance: injustice with violence of enemies, pride, with ruin; cowardice, with oppression; and rebellion, with slaughter."

Even more pertinent is what he expressed on why the life of man can be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Hobbes warned: "For the laws of nature (as justice, equity, modesty, mercy, and, in sum, doing to others as we would be done to) of themselves, without the terror of some power, to cause them to be observed, are contrary to our natural passions, that carry us to partiality, pride, revenge, and the like."

Old Tom can be ponderous in his sentences, but his insight into human nature – and his warnings – are right on the nose. The abolition of the Death Penalty has unleashed forces that may, in the end, rage beyond control.

Was the Death Penalty "barbaric"? We may soon find out that we are, unfortunately, not a "civilized" country. The Strong Republic of which GMA once boasted, has become a Toothless Republic.

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Our Philippine National Police, now in the process of acquiring some pieces of "mission-essential" equipment as part of its early security preparations for the forthcoming 12th ASEAN Summit meeting on December 4 to 13, 2006, has come under attack from some malicious quarters who are making unnecessary fuss over procurement contracts entered into by the PNP to acquire the equipment. Obviously, the target of the critics is Chief PNP Arturo C. Lomibao himself, who, incidentally, is set to retire in early July. The troublemakers and blamecasters are attempting to tar Lomibao’s reputation so as to forestall the possibility that La Presidenta might extend his term by a year or more. A PNP general, close to a powerful Cabinet member, and a member of the President’s family as well, is lusting for the premier PNP post, it’s clear.

The problem is that PNP security preparations for the 12th ASEAN Summit are supposed to be as extensive as the APEC meeting in 1996, and the 112th Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting and 23rd SEA Games in 2005, and the barrage of attacks on the PNP Director General and his staff may compromise the effectiveness of the security preparations.

Continuous threat assessment is being made in the different venues of the conferences, particularly in Cebu City where a suspected Abu Sayyaf cell was recently uncovered.

In support of the tough security preparations being undertaken, the PNP is building-up tactical capability for the estimated 6,000 police personnel who will directly participate in providing security to the hundreds of top-drawer delegates expected. Currently undergoing training are motorcycle escorts, close-in VIP security escorts, and Civil Disturbance Management troops. To provide for the logistics requirements of the 12th ASEAN Summit, the PNP is in the process of procuring 208 Police Patrol Jeeps, 203 Police Patrol Cars, 279 Police motorcycles, 5,000 handguns, and communication equipment consisting of 250 hand-held transceivers, ten mobile and five base radio sets; and other equipment.

Director General Lomibao has mobilized Task Force ASEAN Summit to be led by Deputy Director General Avelino Razon Jr., under whose command are seven Task Groups that will handle security in various areas of engagement particularly Task Group Cebu under PRO-7 Regional Director, Chief Superintendent Silverio Alarcio.

We must not forget that ten ASEAN heads of state, foreign affairs and economic ministers, and representatives from seven other countries in the Asia-Pacific region will be attending the Summit.

A series of 93 meetings has already been held in several cities in the country in which representatives of ASEAN-member states and observer countries are mapping out schedules, formalizing the agenda and studying how to cope with any terrorist plans to disrupt the Summit.

By the way, Lomibao flew to Borongan, Samar yesterday to personally assess the ongoing investigation into the assassination of two barangay officials who were initially reported to have been ranking members of a militant cause-oriented organization.

The PNP Chief spoke with Nida Costuna, wife of slain Barangay Chairman David Costuna of Barangay Balud and the widow angrily denied that her late husband had been a supporter of a Leftist underground movement as had been reported in one newspaper.

She asserted that their two daughters are even government scholars and that her late husband had been a staunch anti-communist, contrary to what was alleged.

Barangay Chairman Costuna and Tanod Arcadio Macale were mowed down with M16 rifles by suspects wearing ski masks shortly before midnight on June 4th.

Who could have benefited then from their murders?

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Regarding other suspicious assassinations, meaning the murder of party-list and militant group members, the PNP claims it has "solved" the double-murder of Bayan Muna officials Baby Mendiola and Ricardo Balauag in Echague, Isabela. The police filed murder charges against two ranking NPA leaders in the province the other day.

It appears that the couple were allegedly "punished" by the Communist NPA for their failure to account for committee funds of the movement. The NPA also accused the live-in couple of anomalous transactions such as the collection of large amounts from peasant farmers in Jones, Isabela with the promise of working for the acquisition of land titles to their farms, which the couple reportedly failed to deliver.

In Pangasinan, police arrested Joel Flores for the May 16 murder of Jose Doton, Secretary General of the Eastern Pangasinan Chapter of Bayan Muna.

The suspect had all it takes to successfully prosecute the murder case, including the "smoking gun" that forensic investigators concluded to be the murder weapon, aside from the motorcycle used in the shooting which was found registered under the suspect’s name.

Doton’s brother Cancio, who survived the attack with several gunshot wounds, identified Flores as their assailant.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . The Renaissance Makati City Hotel, Manila (formerly the New World Renaissance Hotel) has joined the excitement for the much anticipated FIFA World Cup starting June 9 up to July 9 with its "Feel the FIFA World Fever" held at the hotel’s Cats Lounge. Incidentally, "The Renaissance" belongs to the famous worldwide chain of "MARRIOTT" Hotels, whose headquarters is in the Mormon capital of Salt Lake City, Utah, "The Vatican" (if one may be slightly irreverent) of the Latter Day Saints. In any event, football fans can soon catch all the thrilling games live on a 42-inch flat screen television of the coming "World Cup" champions in Germany, accompanied by ice cold beers and a World Cup Bites Menu offering traditional game favorites such as: German sausages, the classic burger, Mexican nachos & chili, crisp calamari & breaded zucchini, chicken wings, specialty sandwiches, among other hearty preparations. I had a nice chat yesterday with Stephan Stoss, German-born General Manager of the Renaissance Hotel who hails from Ulm/Donau, Stoss said: "We are ecstatic to be part of this much awaited worldwide event. We invite all football enthusiasts to watch the games live via satellite at the hotel in a fun and lively setting," Stoss, naturely, is a football fanatic, especially since his homeland is hosting the Mundial under the slogan, a time to "make friends." Stephan naturally is for the Germans (hoping against hope) to clinch the World Cup (his favorite team is Bayern Munich). Alas, with Rinhaldo, etc., and the Brazilian tradition of every kid from age 3 to 90 fanatically playing "football" to the Samba beat, Brazil, as usual, is, in my book, the team to beat. Our friend, Monique Trinidad Toda says that for more information, please call Renaissance Makati’s telephone number, 8116888.