EDITORIAL — Collateral damage

As per a report in this newspaper, a woman was shot by two men riding in tandem on motorcycle last Friday, May 15, after one of them suspected her of being a police asset and pinning several crimes on him.

Police eventually arrested both men; the alleged shooter identified as Francis Magnese Quijote, 38, of Sitio Tubod, Barangay Buhisan, and the driver of the motorcycle, his nephew Ricky Nelson Atim Quijote, 21, of Sitio Tambisan, Barangay Tisa, Cebu City.

The same report has Francis admitting that he had planned to shoot the victim for some time now, and that he had asked his nephew to give him a ride that day without telling him what he intended to do.

“Mao to naka-decide ko, kini ako pag-umangkon wala g’yud ni labot, ako rani siya gipukaw nahibung man na siya pag-abot namo sa Punta nagtaptap nako daan," Francis was quoted as saying in the report.

We don’t know where the case will go from there. Maybe police investigators will believe Ricky was innocent, or maybe they won’t. Maybe both of them will be charged for the crime as if they were both in on it.

But if what Ricky and his uncle say is true, then we can consider Ricky as “collateral damage” which is defined as any unintended death, injury, or destruction of property that happens as a side effect of a larger action. In the Bisaya language, we can say “nadamay”.

Not that we encourage it, but for those who find themselves driven to take any desperate actions, they should at least be decent enough not to rope others into their shenanigans. Especially members of their own family.

Now this also makes us wonder how many people now in jail were just nadamay or collateral damage in the bad decisions made by others.

They aren’t unlike those who are charged with reckless imprudence leading to homicide following fatal road accidents, but who weren’t really to blame. Their only fault being that they couldn’t stop a sequence of unfortunate events.

If true justice is to be reached in this case, it should include the exoneration of Ricky if, again, what he and his uncle claims is true.