The RCBC bank robbery in Laguna was a bloodbath spawned by violence in monumental proportions. The victims fell in line for their lives before the face of death that stared them right through the muzzle of the gun. One can only begin to imagine the gravity of that moment weighing down on the victim’s lives as they breathed their last few minutes on earth. They were executed—no, slaughtered—mercilessly by the menacing hands of murdering thieves.
It was the worst case of bank robbery in the history of Laguna. That’s according to the police and those who knew the province too well. It must have struck them without warning, believing that the town of Cabuyao would have been the last on the list of any bandit. It was a gore too heavy for the weak heart to bear and for the bewildered mind to comprehend. But more than that, it was a useless killing for the families left to mourn in the wake of their departed loved ones. It’s a useless murder of innocent lives—one too many, nine or ten even more—that gives face to that grotesqueness of violence and the greed for money. It’s a useless murder that compels us to rethink ourselves and the kind of society we live in. It’s a useless murder, to think that murder is hardly of any use at all.
We no longer live in a kind society where peace springs eternal. Or perhaps we never did since time immemorial.
Just a few days ago, two police officers were gunned down after giving chase to a loose bank robber in Manila. Their death on that fateful day remains a gruesome and worrisome reminder of how the wretched madness of the times can seed souls corrupted in both flesh and mind. Their deaths cast a serious reminder that crime does pay, and it pays quite doubly in more ways than one. It pays while it bitterly takes away.
As to when we can finally seal the coffin of violence and bury it in the cellars of human forgetfulness, no one exactly knows. But it does not mean that one can barely do anything, or that nothing can be done at the height and depth of all these. Quite on the contrary, it poses the most often neglected question in the history of our lives as the most powerful beings in this world: what can we do about these things? Indeed, what can we do to put a stop to this deadly carousel of death and madness and violence and all the gores of evil hanging just below our noses?
There is that wanton disregard for the value of life. And it is one which does not simply fall upon our laps like an apparition from hell. It goes from the bottom all the way to the top. It, too, goes from the top all the way to the lowliest parts of this nation. It is one which looms over this archipelago like a typhoon in epic proportions, one that ravages everything in its path and leaves recovery a task that requires more than emancipation from tormented minds and torn bodies.
To stop that storm of violence, life ought to be gauged and appreciated like an irreplaceable treasure. Life ought to be treated more than diamonds and dollars, well beyond any pillaging has to offer. Life ought to be something worthy to be lived and worthy to be exalted and extolled, which altogether should surmount the idea that crime does pay. The regard for life should be the reason why crime will not pay you handsomely, at least in moral aspects. Life goes hand in hand with earthly and divine morals, and one cannot bribe nor pay one’s way to those sanctified grails. One does so and one can only pay one’s way to an anomaly of morals.
The problem is no longer legal. It has become moral, or it has been a moral problem all along. We should no longer demand for more laws that sanction the giant and petty thieves in this land, although the clamor for the enforcement of these laws should never cease. We should no longer cry for a tighter gun ban or an entire ban on all things which can extinguish the lives of people, although the cry for the responsible use of guns should never cease to resonate. We should no longer demand for more real and imagined sanctions which have been made irrelevant by the horrifying signs of the times. On the contrary, we should demand and fight for the preservation of life. Respect begets respect. Life begets life. Death begets death.
It is a matter of personal principle not for a selected few, not for the people at the top, not for the people at the bottom, but for all. It is a matter of fealty to a nation of what could be vibrant and peaceful citizens. No law can stand potent enough to dispell the monstrous atrocities dragging us to our own graves without people who are more than willing enough to stand their ground, uphold the law and live in perpetual peace. Laws are made irrelevant by a nation of rogues and renegades to the law and justice. On the contrary, laws are sanctified by a nation of peaceful people.
A bloodbath won't be necessary in a nation appeased in life and limbs, in flesh and mind, or in body and soul. But appeasing a nation already torn in both literal and figurative ways requires more than laws and legal enforcers. It requires morals and moral enforcers. It requires a deeper, if not the deepest, regard for human rights above all.
Rogues and renegades are walking, and oftentimes running, reminders that the desecration of morals and human rights are no fantasies of the mind.
It was the worst case of bank robbery in the history of Laguna. That’s according to the police and those who knew the province too well. It must have struck them without warning, believing that the town of Cabuyao would have been the last on the list of any bandit. It was a gore too heavy for the weak heart to bear and for the bewildered mind to comprehend. But more than that, it was a useless killing for the families left to mourn in the wake of their departed loved ones. It’s a useless murder of innocent lives—one too many, nine or ten even more—that gives face to that grotesqueness of violence and the greed for money. It’s a useless murder that compels us to rethink ourselves and the kind of society we live in. It’s a useless murder, to think that murder is hardly of any use at all.
We no longer live in a kind society where peace springs eternal. Or perhaps we never did since time immemorial.
Just a few days ago, two police officers were gunned down after giving chase to a loose bank robber in Manila. Their death on that fateful day remains a gruesome and worrisome reminder of how the wretched madness of the times can seed souls corrupted in both flesh and mind. Their deaths cast a serious reminder that crime does pay, and it pays quite doubly in more ways than one. It pays while it bitterly takes away.
As to when we can finally seal the coffin of violence and bury it in the cellars of human forgetfulness, no one exactly knows. But it does not mean that one can barely do anything, or that nothing can be done at the height and depth of all these. Quite on the contrary, it poses the most often neglected question in the history of our lives as the most powerful beings in this world: what can we do about these things? Indeed, what can we do to put a stop to this deadly carousel of death and madness and violence and all the gores of evil hanging just below our noses?
There is that wanton disregard for the value of life. And it is one which does not simply fall upon our laps like an apparition from hell. It goes from the bottom all the way to the top. It, too, goes from the top all the way to the lowliest parts of this nation. It is one which looms over this archipelago like a typhoon in epic proportions, one that ravages everything in its path and leaves recovery a task that requires more than emancipation from tormented minds and torn bodies.
To stop that storm of violence, life ought to be gauged and appreciated like an irreplaceable treasure. Life ought to be treated more than diamonds and dollars, well beyond any pillaging has to offer. Life ought to be something worthy to be lived and worthy to be exalted and extolled, which altogether should surmount the idea that crime does pay. The regard for life should be the reason why crime will not pay you handsomely, at least in moral aspects. Life goes hand in hand with earthly and divine morals, and one cannot bribe nor pay one’s way to those sanctified grails. One does so and one can only pay one’s way to an anomaly of morals.
The problem is no longer legal. It has become moral, or it has been a moral problem all along. We should no longer demand for more laws that sanction the giant and petty thieves in this land, although the clamor for the enforcement of these laws should never cease. We should no longer cry for a tighter gun ban or an entire ban on all things which can extinguish the lives of people, although the cry for the responsible use of guns should never cease to resonate. We should no longer demand for more real and imagined sanctions which have been made irrelevant by the horrifying signs of the times. On the contrary, we should demand and fight for the preservation of life. Respect begets respect. Life begets life. Death begets death.
It is a matter of personal principle not for a selected few, not for the people at the top, not for the people at the bottom, but for all. It is a matter of fealty to a nation of what could be vibrant and peaceful citizens. No law can stand potent enough to dispell the monstrous atrocities dragging us to our own graves without people who are more than willing enough to stand their ground, uphold the law and live in perpetual peace. Laws are made irrelevant by a nation of rogues and renegades to the law and justice. On the contrary, laws are sanctified by a nation of peaceful people.
A bloodbath won't be necessary in a nation appeased in life and limbs, in flesh and mind, or in body and soul. But appeasing a nation already torn in both literal and figurative ways requires more than laws and legal enforcers. It requires morals and moral enforcers. It requires a deeper, if not the deepest, regard for human rights above all.
Rogues and renegades are walking, and oftentimes running, reminders that the desecration of morals and human rights are no fantasies of the mind.
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