EDITORIAL - Two thousand pesos

It has long been suspected that hired killers are willing to take as low as P2,000 for a hit. After a hitman shot and killed a public school teacher before his horrified students in Argao, police eventually came out in the open to confirm the amount.

Yet, shocking though the amount may be, it is wrong to focus on the price of human life alone. To do so is to be misled into thinking of the phenomenon in terms of economics. Do that and pretty soon we will be commiserating with killers for the poverty that drove them into crime.

The problem has less to do with poverty and the need to earn a living, no matter how ironic the means. On the contrary, it is all about the collapse of morals and the loss of that all important fear of God.

A man who fears God will not kill another human being even if you give him all the money in the world. But a man who no longer has God in his heart will kill anybody for just staring. You give him money and it is just a bonus.

Of course, to solve the problem, the community would need to approach it from many directions. The government obviously needs to take peace and order with a lot more seriousness. A crackdown against all forms of deadly weapons must be pursued relentlessly.

Residents, for their part, will need to be more vigilant and civic-minded. They must help government crime intervenors, tipsters and prosecution witnesses. To overcome their attendant fears, government needs to make clear and palpable assurances that they will be protected.

We cannot remain passive observers to a phenomenon that, if left unchecked, will eventually eat all of us down the road. Sooner or later we will all have to say enough is enough. Better to do it now while this evil is still manageable.

But the biggest burden to be borne by anyone in this regard is that which falls squarely on the shoulders of the church. For whatever reason, the church has failed to protect the home of God in men's hearts. It is not human life that is cheapened by P2,000. It is God.