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Citizen action needed against serial killings

Political killings of activists, journalists, even priests and pastors, have gotten worse every year since GMA came to power. Since last year, the killings even seemed to quicken by the month.

Yet, until recently, we heard nothing from top civilian and military authorities. Nothing but deathly silence. Plus giving promotions, awards and rewards to favorite officers, whose career tracks from one battalion, brigade or division command to the next are strewn with dead bodies “slaughtered like chicken,” in the words of human rights advocates.

In most cases, victims’ families and colleagues point to death squads as the culprits, coddled if not directly commanded by intelligence and special ops units.

The killing patterns are too methodical for us to doubt that they are part of a well-planned, well-organized, and well-financed oplan that can happen only with the green light from higher authorities.

Expectedly, GMA’s men in the AFP-PNP deny having any hand in the serial killings. But the public must insist that this is of grave national concern and must be thoroughly investigated. The serial killers, all the way to the mastermind, must be prosecuted and punished.

Yes, the authorities formed a task force to “look into the matter.” But in the same breath, they also claimed that it’s just “communists killing each other,” and that CPP-NPA “hit squads” are actually moving in to assassinate GMA and her boys.

Are we, the public and the mass media, expected to believe these masters of doublespeak and gobbledygook?

No, we should learn from our own depressing experience of how local authorities handled the killing of Romy Sanchez of La Union, Jose Manegdeg III of Ilocos Norte, Albert Terredano of Abra, and most recently Baby Mendiola of Isabela and Jose Doton of Pangasinan.

At the same time, we must not despair.

The government itself has long invoked the so-called “terrorist threat” to justify fascist tactics. Here, in the relentless spate of political killings, is the real terrorist threat. It should be met, not with police-state measures, but heightened citizen vigilance.

To begin with, we offer a few measures that any citizen and citizens’ group – not just activists – should adopt:

1. Be very observant of your neighborhood’s and workplace’s surroundings, especially strange men and strange vehicles (like motorcycles and tinted vans) that don’t fit into the usual routine.

Note those who surreptitiously take photos or ask hush-hush questions about your neighbors or acquaintances. Jot down distinguishing features, plate numbers, dates and hours of day. If a murder, abduction or break-in later occurs in the locality, these notes could be of great help.

2. Immediately report such suspicious behavior. To whom? By all means, report them to the local police. But to be really sure, also report them to the barangay, to your community organization, to your local parish priest, and to the media.

At the very least, you should at least warn other members of your community or workplace that you can rely on, so that vigilance and safety becomes a collective effort.

3. Finally, we call on those who hold solid or insider information about death squads and their current or past operations, to share the information not just to the police, but to the Commission on Human Rights, human rights groups, the Church, and responsible members of media.

This should greatly help in stopping this monstrous epidemic that is debilitating our country’s body politic. #

Romancing the sword (1)
Romancing the sword (2)
Romancing the sword (3)

(Email your feedback to jun@nordis.net)

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