Ben Contreras TWO girls, in their tender age, were recently raped and murdered days apart. We saw them on Facebook. But as fast as their lives were snapped was the speed with which their deaths were forgotten. They didn’t have the media mileage and exposures nor did they have visitors the likes of senators, the vice president, running priest, politicians and the sympathy of the people who felt for someone who already have more than enough that he probably deserved. Those girls didn’t have neighbors, friends or classmates to cry. “The heavens wept,” said a bishop. Satan must be laughing. Did heaven cry for the girls, too? Or did the heavens cry because the killings can easily be blamed on the President while the killers of the girls were mere addicts -- addicts that do not have political value to those who hate (or is it envy?) the President very much. Now that one has been laid to rest, would these same people pray for another Kian so that the bashing can go on? I bet they would. After all, it’s not just about politics. It’s about money, too. News about victims of addicts no longer sell. They, like those little girls are mere statistics. Only victims of police, legal or not, sell because there is Duterte to blame. Why are you so obsessed to destroy the President that you could no longer see what good he has done? You have become like vultures waiting for someone to die and feast on their carcasses. You wait for nothing but for Duterte to make his next false move and mistake. And yet when you criticize the President for such, you keep your silence on the bad things committed by people near you. Ah, the President, he’s a good whipping boy, all right. When his days are over, pray that you won’t be the next victim of a drugelated crime. Pray that you won’t see your beloved raped and murdered. Pray that your daughter won’t be seen on video in a very compromising situation because of drugs. The drug problem is not one you can fight with laws. It has to be fought head on or with death. You choose, is it your death or theirs?

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A friend I met on Tuesday during the mass for a deceased relative told me of illegal quarrying in Baikingon, so rampant that the newly paved road by this administration cracked. Cracked? How come? About a year ago, a friend who resides somewhere in Lumbia area told of the newly concreted road that cracked even before its completion. Why? Two possibilities I can think of. One, the road is too thin, not designed for heavy trucks with heavy load or the concrete mixture below grade. Oh, a third possibility, undersized steel bars. Is Clenro sleeping on the job? I don’t think so. Playing deaf and blind, I guess. Why? And who is this Chinese who’s into black sand? You talk of black sand and you talk of gold. Haha, weather-weather lang diay.

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Some news hits the press and some don’t. A death of a Chinese from mainland China (seen hanging on a tree, according to a resident) has been kept secret. Authorities are mum on it. Let me guess. The body was cremated and thrown to the sea or sent home in an urn. How many of them are here working without papers? How many are into illegal gambling? How many are into drugs? Hohummm.