Killing a lawmaker, a law enforcer, in God’s house

Are we safe?

When assassins no longer hold church grounds as sacred, when killers no longer honor special seasons and occasions, when innocent bystanders are just as likely to get killed for being in church, I really wonder if we still have Peace, much less order.

As I watched the news coverage on the murder-assassination of Abra Congressman Luis Bersamin, I could not believe how anyone could stoop so low. How anyone could choose to commit such a sin and curse someone’s wedding as well.

I used to think that only the devil would dare mock God in his own house, but it seems that today’s criminals have outdone the devil himself. They killed a lawmaker, a law enforcer in the house of God.

All I could do was sympathize with the dead solon’s family, somehow understanding their anger and their prayer that God would pay these demons their just rewards. Experience has taught me that we ought to be careful about asking for God’s justice since his justice is far more severe than our humanity can comprehend.

But realizing how these agents of hell have defiled sacred ground on a sacred day, I know they have reserved seats in Hell.

The last time I remember a Congressman or Governor being MURDERED inside a church was when the late Floro Crisologo was shot while taking communion inside the Vigan cathedral on October 18, 1970.

That was when we called Northern Luzon particularly Pampanga, Tarlac, and Ilocos as no-man’s land, back then it was warlords versus the Huks and later the NPAs.

Back then, carrying a gun and an automatic rifle was a necessary deterrent to criminal elements as well as opportunists who would put up illegal roadblocks or fake checkpoints. At four in the morning it was fair game to run them down.

That was back then, a time so violent that Ferdinand Marcos simply declared Martial Law.

But back then even the Italian Mafia honored the sanctity of church grounds, they gave respect to the sanctity of a wedding. Even my friend who died fighting rebels in Mindanao refused to attack a Mosque in retaliation for rebel attacks in civilian areas.

But in today’s Philippines circa 2006, people are being killed for being LEFTISTS or Critics of politicians.

The murder of a former Pasig Congressman has not yet been solved and already we read that the current Congressman nearly got his ass blown off in a suspected assassination attempt.

The assassination attempt on Governor Armand Sanchez is just as much a puzzle as the attempt on Congressman Jaworski. These two cases make you wonder if there’s now a training ground for car bombers or if someone sells the kit to people who desperately want to blow up their politicians.

Sadly there is a lot of doubt if the PNP SOCO teams (Scene Of the Crime Operatives) will actually come up with something good enough for the TV version. That would certainly increase Channel 2’s ratings for the evening.

Otherwise it will all fall under UNSOLVED just like the murder of the judge involved in the NAIA Airport Terminal 3, Judge Henrick Gingoyon who was determined to get to the bottom of the NAIA 3 scam, pay-offs, and expropriation. He obviously stepped on some business interest held by people who have no fear of the PNP and government.

This group might be a Mafia of sorts considering their fearless murder of a judge! And if that doesn’t disturb you, two more people somehow working in the case were also killed – Assistant Solicitor General Nestor Ballacillo and his son Benedict Paul who was ONLY 22 years old.

The question is: where did all these hired killers come from?

If President Arroyo has taken away all the permits to carry firearms outside the residence, then where are all these guns and grenades coming from?

If the PNP is able to secure Luneta, Congress, Malacañang, the US Embassy and Cebu City, how is it possible that all this criminality such as bank robberies and uncontrolled carnapping continues, how is it that even policemen are now being shot in cold blood by robbers?

Where is peace and where is order?

It is a tragedy that the Arroyo administration has the highest number of retired generals sitting in government positions yet has the most deplorable and embarrassing record of preventing criminality.

For a government that has excelled in developing clever tools to quell public protests such as Calibrated Preemptive Response or CPR, for an administration that has crafted policy to defeat legitimate congressional inquiry and investigation, the failure to seriously address the unending kidnappings, robberies, murders, and assassinations is testimony to the fact that the Arroyo administration is focused on self preservation.

To highlight or give emphasis on economic gains and give lip service to combating criminality speaks of greed and materialism giving little value to human life.

It is tragic to see the President as a guest at the anniversary of a healing center for mothers who have lost their children while hundreds of families have yet to find their MISSING loved ones.

When government is a FAILURE at bringing the killers of its allies to justice, what hope can ordinary citizens hold on to?

Somehow there seems to be great reluctance on the part of the PRESIDENT to call her cabinet members to task for their collective failure.

Rather than dwelling on the pointless politicking, Secretary Raul Gonzalez and Secretary Ronnie Puno should be made to account for their efforts or their failure to address the apparent breakdown in peace and order.

Why must the citizenry always be made to carry the burden or make the extra effort to secure our lives and our properties? What point is there to having a Secretary of Interior who has yet to make his plans and effort known on how to combat crime.

Why should retired generals be allowed to enrich themselves from their security agencies, when they the generals encouraged the inadequacy of law enforcement agencies in order to make us a nation dependent on "Blue Guards and Barangay Tanods".

Why Madame President should we the people be the victims?