Peace movers

Welcoming the New Year with a big bang is now a well entrenched tradition. The idea of bidding good bye to the Old and greeting the New Year with noise and revelry is already part and parcel of the celebration just like having cakes and lighting candles during birthday parties. Hence people will somehow manage to get their hands on some of these noisy pyrotechnics, light them up or explode them, unmindful of the dangers to their life and limbs. The massive traffic jam in Bocaue last week caused by the rush to buy firecrackers clearly proves this point.

Apparently the firecrackers ban did not work. Regulating their manufacture by strictly ensuring the production of extremely harmless ones only, may be more effective than totally banning them or issuing warnings on their dangers. Of course this entails a lot of planning and determination to enforce the law and rules promulgated for the purpose. It cannot definitely happen overnight. The more important thing is to start taking steps right away but guard against falling into the ningas cogon mentality. A safer but equally noisier revelry can be realized as convincingly shown by the experience of Davao City under the leadership of a no-nonsense Mayor like Duterte who has displayed a lot of grit and determination in strictly enforcing the law.

But as it happened last New Year’s eve again, it is not actually the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics that posed greater danger especially to the lives of a lot of people. More dangerous and violent is the indiscriminate and senseless firing of guns. Statistics once more show many victims of stray bullets from guns of unknown persons who fired them without any concern about their lethal effects on helpless and defenseless people.

The PNP cannot really deny that not all firearms in the country are duly recorded and accounted for; that aside from law enforcers, private security guards and duly licensed private citizens, there are other individuals possessing guns that have not been registered or licensed. With all these firearms, licensed and unlicensed, it is practically impossible to stop or even control the firing of guns during New Year’s Eve celebration.

It is during these times of the year when one person almost always comes to mind. He is Nandy Pacheco, the staunch and indomitable crusader for a gun-less society. Ever since I can remember Nandy has been waging the almost lonely crusade against the arming of people except those charged with the maintenance of peace and order in the country. Despite overwhelming odds, he has never wavered in his belief that “he who lives by the gun will die by the gun” patterned after that non-violent Christian tenet of “he who lives by the sword will die by the sword”.

It seems that Mr. Pacheco’s spirit of hope and faith in the Filipino has not diminished any bit. At the start of 2011 he has once more sounded a call to all Filipinos to be “transformed nonconformists” in accordance with St Paul’s following message to the Romans (12:1-2) thus: “Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. Quoting Jim Wallis of the “Sojourners” Nandy explained that this letter is a “call not to retreat from the world but to lead the world into the kingdom of God where peace and justice reigns”. Hence the call has ignited the hearts of some Filipinos to start some sort of a people power movement called “Mga Tagatulak ng Kapayapaan” (Peace Movers)“to promote and spread Christ’s peace with love, justice, reconciliation, active non-violence and progressive disarmament in this predominantly Catholic Christian Country”.

This group of “Peace Movers” is fully aware that achieving their purpose looks like an “impossible dream”. Thus they choose for starters to carry out only doable and feasible actions just to counteract the growing menace of gun culture plaguing our society nowadays. They have decided to print and distribute nationwide free stickers with the catchy slogan of “kung walang baril, hindi tayo mababaril” to be pasted on cars and other means of transportation, in churches, schools, offices, houses and other private and public buildings. Anyone interested can also contribute to shoulder the cost of printing the sticker at the cost of P17.00 each. Subsequently, the slogan will also be promoted on a regular basis in print media, newsletters, radio, TV and other means of communications.

Of course they likewise realize that the slogan is empty and meaningless without the support and concrete actions on the part of the government. Hence they have also initiated the adoption of a law known as the “Citizens Protection Act” now pending in Congress. The bill practically seeks to extend the Comelec gun ban in public places beyond the election period. It makes the harmless act of carrying a gun in public places a criminal offense except for those law enforcers, other government agents and individuals who are authorized, in uniform and/or on duty. The idea here is to prevent the seemingly harmless act from turning into a violent act which has happened and continue to happen in our society today.

In our present peace and order situation, it is really hard to convince citizens to give up their firearms which are their sole means of protection against crimes. The proliferation of loose firearms and rampant criminality where killings and armed robberies continue unabated have indeed forced citizens and even judges and prosecutors to arm themselves. So after all, this movement towards a progressive disarmament will succeed only by the adoption of more forceful crime prevention and prosecution moves on the part of the government.

The peace movers have at least started the ball rolling. That ball is now in the hands of the government to follow through.

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