Living in a culture of violence and death!

The chatter over the radio airlanes yesterday were all discussing about the gruesome suicide-killing of the Ponce family, where Mr. Emmanuel Ponce, methodically shot his wife Melinda, his daughters Elaine Grace, 26, Heather Joy, 25, and only son Emlin Bridge, 18, and their house help Anastacia Deniega, 30 years old, and then turned his .45 caliber pistol on his cheek and shot himself. Thus ended one of the most gruesome massacres in Cebu’s history. The only survivor is 13-year- old Embrelaine, who told reporters that her father told her to call the police as they would all be dead when they arrive. No doubt this was a grave traumatic experience for her.

 I thought by now I have become jaded, after all we’ve gone through so many reports of the killings happening around us. This incident also reminds me of a similar tragedy during our high school years where the father of a schoolmate of ours, who operated a famous tailoring shop, shot and killed his wife and then shot himself. We went to the funeral mass at the Redemptorist Church asking the question, “Who would now take care of the children?” But the larger question lurking in my head was, “Why did this happen?”

 Our radio commentators tried to find the reasons why this tragedy happened, asking questions ranging from mental illness to jealousy. But no one, not even our psychoanalysts can say that this tragedy could have been prevented. All we can say is that something snapped inside the head of Emmanuel Ponce, a retired Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) that he would murder his entire family except for the 13-year-old Embrelaine.

 We also gathered that ten years ago, Mr. Ponce suffered from a head injury and was treated or operated in the US. Most of their relatives say that he was a good man, but there was that report of domestic violence and that the wife, Melinda, confided to a close friend about this. Hence we can say that this was most probably a domestic violence that turned from bad to worse.

 I gathered from my good friend, Dr. Peter Mancao, who is an active running enthusiast, that Melinda would run from her home in Talisay to her office in BDO in Escario St., which is about a 10 kilometers. No doubt, she concentrated on running perhaps in the hope that it would ease the pains of her marital problem. At this point, we can only pray for the repose of the souls of those who died last Sunday.

 Speaking of violence, this brings us to headline news of The Philippine Star yesterday that blared, “CHED alarmed by rash of violence in schools.” This news is surprising to me because the violence never left our schools, so why should CHED only be alarmed now? Go over the news reports in the past five years and you will see the spate of violence happening in our schools, thanks to rival fraternities, which last year resulted in the bombing of Manila’s De La Salle University during the end of the bar examinations.

 That incident left two female students gravely wounded. Both of Raissa Laurel’s legs had to be amputated, while the other student lost only one leg. We haven’t heard whether or not the perpetrator of that dastardly deed was caught and tried in court. My own nephew, now a lawyer Atty. Mark Avila, was very close to that area, so too with the son of Mayor Michael Rama. Yes, the violence continues in our schools and in our countryside.

 What is happening in our country today is that, we are living in a culture of violence and death. Go to Basilan and if anyone recognizes you as one who is rich and landed, the chance of your getting kidnapped is extremely high. Just look what recently happened to three mining companies in Surigao, the New People’s Army (NPA) raided them, killing two security guards and burning 10 expensive mining equipment. It is for this reason why the United States government tagged the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its allied front organization the National Democratic Front (NDF) as a terror organization… and this is exactly what they did in Surigao.

 Yet the Aquino administration naively pursues peace talks with the communists when we know too well that its top leaders, CPP Chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison or NDF Chairman Fr. Luis Jalandoni doesn’t really have any agenda for peace. Peace Talks for them are only a means to gain international celebrity status. Both even justified what the NPA did to the three mining firms in Surigao.

 We are shocked or numbed by the tragedy of the Ponce suicide murders because of the sheer waste of humanity, more so because those children had a very bright future ahead of them. Yet we keep quiet and do nothing when our politicians propose the Reproductive Health (RH) bill that would kill thousands of the unborn inside the mother’s womb through the means of contraceptives, which are known to be abortifacient. Don’t you think that the unborn also has the right to be born and given a bright future ahead?

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