Tanan puede!

Rhona Canoy

SO… A friend asked me to write about the “Badac” list. That would have been an easy job. The spate of surrenders, arrests, and killings lately that stem from this infamous hazy list would be more than enough for the column to write itself. Really. Giving someone power over your life simply by penciling your name onto a list created on the basis of suspicion or personal dislike which will result in your being tokhanged—I mean, really.

But then, these days death by killing is ubiquitous in the news that it got me to thinking. Not just about lives being taken, but our cultural disregard for it. Wow. This is difficult to write simply because I seem to be as guilty as the next living person. I read a few days ago about how a 22-year-old college coed (an honor student at that) was shot to death by a vigilante squad in Dagupan City. It was attributed to a vigilante death squad, and her own family said it was probably a case of mistaken identity. My anger was overshadowed by my confusion.

What is wrong with us? How far have we sunk as human beings? Someone recently opined that Filipinos have a cavalier attitude towards death because of the atmosphere of impunity. There’s that word. If you don’t want to take the time to look it up, then let me explain it in terms even a mouse can understand. Impunity at its barest means that a person can do anything without fear of retribution, being held accountable, being held responsible, being punished for such acts. Bisan pa ug unsa’y imong buhaton, dili ka dakpon, presohon, kasohan, bisan unsa pa… wala. And our culture teaches that at an early age.

When  my daughter was three and had done something which meant impending doon, this conversation ensued in the language used at that time:

Me: Kabalo ka ba ngano ga-istoryahon ta ka karon?

Her: Ho-o.

Me: Gi-ingnan ta man ka pirmi nga dili lagi manghilabot sa things nga dili imo, di ba?

Her: Ho-o.

Me: So kasabot ka ngano dili ka puede maka-watch ug cartoons today?

Her: Ho-o. Pero dili na ko nimo. Gusto ko didto ra ko kang Lolo.

Me: Ug ngano man?

Her: Didto ra ko kang Lolo kay kang Lolo puede.

Me: Unsa’y puede?

Her: Tanan puede!

I used to think that this was a cute conversation until right now that I am reading it as  write this. And I am without speech.

To complicate matters worse, we are inundated with news, images, jokes and casual references that make life actually seem valueless. I find it hard to stomach that friends who claim to be religious and educated can say, “Somebody might as well kill them all.” Don’t get me wrong. People die. Ideally, a natural death. But people die. Some of them in war, some of them in a gunfight, some of them stabbed or strangled, some of them overdose on drugs. People die.

But we have laws. This thing called due process. One can’t just shoot someone because they “deserve to die.” We are supposed to have faith in our judicial and legal system, but that’s a joke for another day. We are supposed to trust that respect for human life counts. And let’s leave the CHR out of this. They are also a joke for another day.

We are allowing ourselves to turn into the wild, wild West. Where the bullet is the law. And anyone with a bullet is the sheriff. Somewhere in all of this is our task, as madlang citizens, to draw the line and say, “That’s enough.” And yet, even I am in danger of having my sense of helplessness at this situation turn into apathy. Or maybe we have always been the wild, wild West. Just deeply in denial.

Killing people just because someone believes they don’t belong in our midst will not end well. Remember the Jews? And the homosexuals, for that matter? Hitler didn’t like them. And he had power. Lots of power. Look at what he did. Is that what we are reduced to? A bunch of pseudo little Hitlers who are under the illusion that they have the right to deprive another human being of life just because? Just because?

So… my dear journo Cong B. Corrales, though I admire your fervor in fighting impunity, take a long hard look at how much impunity we have to fight. I’m with you on this one, Bruh. But we need to figure out what to do, how to stop it, where to draw the line. In other words, just how big this war is. The war happening in the Philippines right now isn’t about drugs. It isn’t about vigilanteism. It’s about saving our humanity.