Hours earlier prior to this writing, I was running towards a dead mayor drenched in blood. He was David Navarro from Clarin, Misamis Occidental. Bullets were scattered on the road and the cries of his relatives echoed all around. It came as a shock. We were at the city prosecutor's office waiting for him to arrive as charges will be filed against him for allegedly beating up a massage parlor worker. Instead of the patrol car arriving with the mayor, we were running towards it.
My knees were literally shaking as I hurriedly dialed some contacts on my phone. "Ambush!" I said and that I needed backup as a reporter. I was thankful that we didn't join the convoy because I really wanted to, so I could get good video. You see, being on television demands good videos, thus the need for action. But later on, I decided not to and wait for him where he will undergo inquest proceedings. Then the incident happened. I was scared, like literally. Although dead people don’t scare me, I was scared at how a person whom you last saw alive could be dead in an instant.
We are back at it again, the killings. It seemed like they never stopped. No change of leadership could ever make it the other way around. Sometimes I feel like it is a mandate from certain individuals who want to take advantage of the situation and use killings to their agenda. It’s sad how after all this time, we still look at killing someone as an easy way out or to solve a case. What's worse is to get rid of somebody who knows too much.
What we don't see is that there are family members who will be affected by the situation. We are not seeing eye-to-eye its effect on society and the next generation. Children will think it is okay to kill because it is normal to do so. We will not know how to sanitize the type of media they will be consuming because of the outbursts in social media. The effect that I see in the long run is that we won't have any more empathy for others. We will keep on thinking that it will be fine to just think of ourselves.
What I wish now is for everyone to take this seriously. Never was gunning down a good thing, heck why do we even have to hold guns in the first place? We must know how to protect the sanctity of life and the way we have all worked to have the freedom that we enjoy today. If only our forefathers could hear and give us clear conscience so that no life would go to waste.
The case of Mayor Navarro will take a long time to solve, again, like most cases. I'm not even positive that somebody will be identified as the suspects. I would just have to cross my fingers.