Equal protection

There are occasions in our lives when we mouth certain slogans with distinct pride. One such opportunity would have come last week to Atty. Democrito Barcenas, the former president of the Cebu City Chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. In a television interview, his opinion was sought on the feverish investigation conducted by the police in their efforts to solve the murder of the late businessman Wilson Yu. Indeed, there was the chance of Atty. Barcenas to mention this constitutional dictum called "equal protection of the laws". Unfortunately, he, the lawyer in him notwithstanding, was not speaking with unbridled pride. Rather, profound embarrassment seemed to strike Atty. Barcenas as he lamented the government's inconsistency to uphold this sacred principle.

For many of us who are uninitiated, equal protection of the law means that in the enforcement of the laws of the land, all men are equal. Each citizen is supposed to enjoy the same rights as others, irregardless of their stations in life. For example, when it comes to the services of our police forces, the uniformed men are supposed to secure the lives and properties of every Filipino, rich or poor alike. The policemen, on one hand, can not deny protection to any individual for the reason that he is poor or, on the other hand, provide a comparably better security to another because he is a millionaire.

I could understand the forlorn look which registered on the face Atty. Barcenas when he talked about the creation, by the police, of Task Force Yu. He did not resent the creation of such an investigative team. I was sure the lawyer was glad that there was a concrete police action to solve the killing of the businessman and he would be more ecstatic to see the offenders brought before the bar of justice. No one would question the desirability of bringing the criminals to court in a most expeditious manner. If only he could pat the shoulders of the police for leaving no stone unturned in finding the criminals, Atty. Barcenas would.

But, at the back of his mind, the creation of the special police task force designed to investigate the ambush left a sour taste. It clearly smacked of unequal protection of the laws. What passion drove the policemen to organize a posse to hunt Yu's killers, they never demonstrated to pursue the vigilante killers. That was why Atty. Barcenas sighed in terrible disappointment. He saw that the treatment by the police of the same kind of criminal offense of murder differed greatly where the victims varied in their social standing.

I can not help but talk again about the victims of the vigilantes. Reports say, their number has reached 95 and we are still counting. In other words, 95 helpless people have, so far, been executed in cold-blood and not one offender jailed to answer for his crime. Is it correct to say that we have inefficient police force? The crime solution score of our policemen is a big fat zero and the methodology they have adopted may be suspect. Yes, they would go to the crime scenes where the lifeless bodies of men with derogatory records sprawled. Beyond asking casual queries, however, they have done no more.

My goodness, the police are doing more in the Yu murder case! Right on the day of the ambush killing, they assembled a task force with crack investigators. An officer was assigned to it. Every day, they hold case meetings and we get to follow the progress. Not content with the account of eye witnesses, they are looking for other persons who might have knowledge of the planning and execution of the crime. This is something they have not done on any of the vigilante victims.

The late Mr. Yu, of course, was more than equal to anyone, or all, of the 95 vigilante victims. He had connections with the powers-that-be. He was reportedly a campaigner of the president in the last elections. But, if our police treated the case of the first vigilante victim, (Duarte, was his family name?) with the same intensity they are giving to Yu's case, our city could be a lot safer, the Yu murderers would have second thoughts perpetrating the crime.