Hell can wait

On Halloween, my thoughts were on killing.

Specifically, on those who kill people. It seems there are a lot of them in our country, despite widespread religious devotion as well as belief in ghosts, the devil and malevolent spirits.

Normal people are scared of ghosts, but murderous psychos aren’t normal people. Those in the business of killing won’t be bothered by niceties such as conscience or the wrath of God. But wouldn’t they at least be bothered by ghosts?

I’ve often wondered if killers ever get haunted by the ghosts of their victims.

When former town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. was detained at the National Bureau of Investigation’s main office in Manila for the November 2009 massacre in Maguindanao, he was moved out of the detention cell and allowed to sleep on a bench near the visitors’ area, wrapped in a comforter, after he claimed he was scared of ghosts.

Anyone would have trouble sleeping after leading some 200 lowlifes in mowing down 58 people, squishing them alive inside their cars and then dumping them in a shallow grave, together with the cars, using a government-owned backhoe.

Military officers told me that Ampatuan was notorious for brutality and decapitation of his political foes and armed threats such as members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, at the time still an enemy of the state. The government liked the Ampatuans for keeping the MILF and other armed elements in check in Maguindanao (also for the votes they guaranteed to produce – just give the number of votes needed, and the clan delivered).

With so many kills personally attributed to him, that story about Ampatuan’s fear of ghosts stretched credulity. But maybe there were other ghosts haunting the old headquarters of the NBI, and the ghosts didn’t like mass murderers.

Does the loss of political power breed fear, including dread of ghosts?

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When I was a crime reporter, I asked cops with a reputation for “salvaging” – the term at the time for extrajudicial killings – if they were ever haunted by the ghosts of people they killed. Some said no; others said they slept with the lights on.

I wonder about such hauntings especially because as we all know, our predominantly Catholic country has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, despite the Church teaching about killing being a mortal sin that would warrant the fires of hell.

We are currently engrossed in the congressional investigations wherein the worst stories about the war on drugs are being confirmed, by the principal players themselves.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte has taken “full legal and moral responsibility” for his war on drugs, wherein the Philippine National Police has acknowledged killing over 6,000 drug suspects who supposedly resisted arrest during anti-narcotics operations.

Duterte cusses God and the pope, and describes himself as an agnostic so he probably doesn’t believe in concepts of heaven, hell and eternal damnation.

But does he believe in ghosts and the afterlife? His daughter the Vice President apparently believes at least in mythical malevolent creatures such as the tambaloslos. Does the former president also believe in evil spirits?

With thousands killed in his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, you wonder if Rodrigo Duterte has ever been haunted by ghosts. Does he also sleep with the lights on?

Duterte will probably say that if he doesn’t get a good night’s sleep, it won’t be because of his war on drugs, which he vows to continue if he wins another term as mayor of Davao City, but because of the chronic pain from his various afflictions and previous motorcycle accident.

He’s unapologetic even about his death squad, and he says if given the chance, he would do everything again.

What about his rumored girlfriend, ex-Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Royina Garma? It’s appalling that a woman has been tagged as the alleged mastermind in the execution of three Chinese drug convicts and a PCSO board secretary.

Does Garma sleep well at night, with the lights off?

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Advances in science and technology have failed to eliminate belief in the supernatural. There are still too many unexplained phenomena around us.

In our country, belief in the afterlife is so pervasive that I know educated, wealthy people who tell me that even the souls of their dearly departed cats and dogs have come visiting.

Belief in the afterlife goes hand-in-hand with belief in the concepts of sin, guilt, penance and redemption. Eternal bliss in heaven awaits those who lead a virtuous life; eternal fire and brimstone await those who are evil.

There are people, however, who make peace with their Maker only when they are pondering their mortality, as they approach life’s end.

The concepts of conscience and guilt have disappeared, it seems, for too many people. Certain politicians who make a show of being pious Catholics are also among the greediest crooks.

As for the murderers, non-violent folks may think that if killers won’t be bothered by their conscience, perhaps the ghosts of their victims will give them sleepless nights.

But it doesn’t look like this is happening. Watching them at the congressional hearings, they all look like an unapologetic bunch.

Somewhere in the back of their mind must be the belief in the fires of hell for the evils they commit in life.

Unfortunately, with no scientific evidence of heaven and hell, they probably also believe that eternal damnation can wait.