Human life and the rule of law

By its code name alone, “coplan armado” already connotes something sinister that has a very “chilling” effect. Even if it is a police operation purportedly conceived to get a notorious illegal gambling operator, something is already wrong with the manner it was carried out. Aside from the 13 lives lost the biggest casualty here is the rule of law.

The condemnable incident first of all indicates how cheap human lives have become in this country. More alarming and dreadful here is that the people who do not value human life any longer come from the government itself especially the law enforcers. In this particular case, the plan is even known to the people in Malacañang particularly those in the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) headed by no less than PNoy’s Executive Secretary. People in the PAOCC admitted knowing the plan and that it is going to be “bloody”. But instead of stopping it outright, they merely denied approving it and just washed their hands of any involvement in it. With this kind of government we have, we seem to have reached the “days of living dangerously” in this hapless land. This dangerous living is exemplified by no less than PNoy himself who reportedly owns 26 firearms as a measure of self defense, among others.

More noticeable in this “coplan armado” are the police officials who head the team that carried it out. Its supervisor is Superintendent Glenn Dumlao who was linked to the murders of public relations agent “Bubby Dacer” and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. He was reinstated in 2012 when PNoy was already President, after being discharged as one of the accused in the murder case to become a State witness for being the “least guilty” among them. He was even rewarded with two positions of deputy chief of the Regional Intelligence Division and of the Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) based in Antipolo, Rizal.

The other police official who is the leader of the police team at the checkpoint is Superintendent Hansel Marantan, the Chief of the Anti-Organized Crime Task Force in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon (Calabarzon). He has been previously involved in several other alleged “shootouts” where at least 40 people had been killed including a father and his daughter who were caught in the cross fire during a supposed “shootout” that happened in Sucat, Parañaque.

It is indeed quite alarming why our law enforcement agency continues to retain in the service such kind of police officers with links to several killings and shootouts happening in the recent past. More and more people are really feeling insecure and unsafe in this kind of atmosphere where fear and terror prevail, and where human lives have become so cheap.

“Coplan armado” also indicates that the rule of law is past slipping away in our society. Indeed the Atimonan massacre or shootout is only one of the incidents where our law enforcers appear to have taken the law into their own hands. The plan was allegedly conceived to nab a notorious illegal gambling operator in the Southern Tagalog region. Obviously, the police officers already have the dossiers against him and knew all the details about him including his residence. Necessary charges should have been filed in court and the corresponding warrant of arrest issued so that he could have been picked up without collateral damage to 12 other people indiscriminately killed in an alleged shootout at a checkpoint.

What happened to the Atimonan 13 is no different from the “Kuratong Baleleng” massacre more than ten years ago except that the victims therein are all suspected criminals while in this case, 6 of the victims also belong to the PNP and the military while the rest are private individuals without any criminal record who apparently have some other “deals” with the principal suspect.

Actually, “Kuratong” is just one of the many incidents where our law enforcers also become the executioners of suspects condemned without trial. There are many other incidents with the same modus operandi where those arrested as suspects in gruesome murders and killings are liquidated by their police escorts on the way to their detention cells for allegedly trying to escape and grabbing the guns of their captors. These incidents of “liquidations” occur more frequently when the victims killed by the arrested suspects are policemen. The law enforcers or policemen committing such acts are of the belief that with the kind of justice system we have, it takes a very  long time before these criminals are meted the necessary punishments which are sometimes not even commensurate to the gruesome crime they committed; or they may even go scot free. So they believe that our society will be much better off and more peaceful if these suspected criminals are permanently removed in our midst.

Our leaders perhaps may not be aware of it. But the daang matuwid seems to be slowly leading us to an era where the end justifies the means in many aspects of governance. This is an era where human lives have no more values and where the rule of law has been thrown out of the window. It is about time to reverse gear.

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Speaking of our low regard for human life, the Catholic Physicians Guild of the Philippines will hold its 77th annual convention on January 18, 2013 where the speaker will be Ms. Emma R. Roxas, a retired professor of Philosophy, Catholic Social Teachings and Social Ethics. Ms. Roxas is also the President of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists (SCSS), a duly registered and accredited NGO at the UN attached to the permanent representation of the Holy See. In her speech, she will “sound off a reactive call for conscientious objection to register opposition to RA 10354”.

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