An international conspiracy against the Philippines?

I have not read it! Neither have I the opportunity to verify it. But I will take, face value, the reported record in the Guinness Book claiming that the Philippines is tops in the number of murders in the year 2004. It is most terrifying to us the citizens and very humiliating to our country.

I do not mean to cast aspersion on the citizens of the many African nations, or of the nationals of Middle Eastern countries, where incessant bloody strife is a historical fact, but are we a more murderous citizenry than they are? Does the Guinness record imply that we have more killers in our midst than in those foreign areas?

Or, if we weave in the conspiracy theory commonly exploited by such fiction writers as Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsythe and John D. MacDonald, into this and few other reports, is the administration of Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the receiving end of a diabolical international confederation out to destroy her leadership image and crucify her?

I cannot help but ask these questions because this late exposure as Guinness record holder for the highest number of murders came up after other international agencies drew their ugly picture of the Philippines. This leads me to another question: Are Guinness Book, World Bank (which refused the release of funds for development projects because corruption has allowed few corporation to corner contracts in the Arroyo administration) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (which recommended the withholding of international funds intended for the Philippines because graft practices abound in the government) conspiring to project that the Philippines is a country where the government is corrupt and its people killers?

Before we explode with indignation at this latest affront on our dignity, let us examine some facts. Here in Cebu City, some people played God. They decided that thieves, snatchers and drug addicts should be executed, never mind if innocent ones were mistaken. And because they acted like God, they did not care if the killings were done in broad daylight and in the presence of witnesses who, because they cower in fear, would prefer to seal their lips than right a wrong. The murderous spree of the so-called vigilantes started in December 2004. It was possible that the Guinness records took into account these killings.

To recall, His Honor, Cebu City Mayor-on-leave Toms R. Osmeña announced, sometime in the third week of December 2004, his plan to organize a Hunter's group to run after the petty criminals roaming the city. It was more an act of desperation than tacitly accepting his failure, as our leader, to keep the peace and order situation in check. The first reported victim was a certain Jimmy Duarte, of Barangay San Roque, Cebu City. Mr. Duarte's murder was followed by several more. In one interview, our mayor, while disclaiming connections with the vigilantes, then acknowledged that he might have inspired them(!) To date, there have been about 200 victims of this murderous type of undertaking.

On the national level, killings have been (and are) daily occurrences. What probably attracted the Guinness Book then were the angles that even media practitioners and the clergy became targets of, brutal yet, cold-bloodied crimes. Well, if broadcasters and column writers were felled by hails of bullets, they died with their proverbial boots on, reputedly criticizing ranking officials as being involved in some forms of government venalities.

But what about religious leaders? Why should, for instance, Bishop Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente be attacked inside his convent and murdered for no apparent reason? Or would we take his constant involvement in street demonstrations against corruption as possible motive to silence him?

Here in Cebu City, we can do something positive to counter this humiliating tag assigned to our country by Guinness Book. The reason these local summary killers flaunt their gruesome exploits is the failure of our authorities. Let the police solve the vigilante killings and bring these murderers before the bar of justice. I am sure that if our policemen are able to identify these vigilantes and charge them in court, murders of this kind will abate.

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