Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Arinday: Welcome to the jungle By G.H. Arinday Jr. Sunfare
ONE of the touchiest, if not sensitive, issues the government is facing today is the alleged summary executions or political killings of journalists, militant leaders, and even members of the prosecutorial or judicial bodies.
Most of the reported rub-outs notably those identified with the so-called militant organizations and perceived to be rabid anti-administration are blamed on the police and military agencies. More often than not, the accusations have badges with finality by the concerned organizations but scant with substance. It is no secret that the various aggressive labor organizations affiliated with known national organizations like Bayan Muna, Alab Katipunan, Anak Pawis and others have undercurrent rivalries although most of them would not admit such fissions or cracks among them.
In the case of slain true media practitioners, the reasons for their “unwarranted disposal” vary according to the background and nature of their characters in wielding the pen or the handling of their “airtime” and the subject of the tirades against a particular individual.
There are persons who cannot extend their tolerance or patience, more so when the condemnation goes beyond the far edge of ethics. This could hardly be classified as “political killing” in the sense that the object of repeated written or verbal assaults is one whose adherence to the rule of law is almost nil or even absent.
If indeed, there are political assassinations, they must be premised on keen but witless thirst for power.
Personal grudges are both present in the slaying of the “newsmakers” who at one time or another exercised the freedom of expression under the underground journalistic parlance of “attack and collect, defend and collect” or simply known as “AC-DC”.
The same thoughts or reasons also apply to the prosecutors or judges perceived to have “double-crossed” the litigants whose material promise has been over bidden by the other party. In plain language, villainous negotiations have taken place.
If one reads John Grisham’s “The Street Lawyers”, the incidents and the thrusts on lawyers’ unethical persuasions are well-nuanced, which is not altogether new in the local practice including the behavioral aspects of the men and women on the bench.
The so-called “political killings” which have been given negative publicity to our country worldwide could be a rich source for in-depth political as well as sociological studies.
One relevant question that may give us the basic lesson is why these so-called summary killings occur only in the provinces or countryside. Why not in Metro Manila? Is it because of the unbridled use of vulgar languages by the media personalities? And on the same breathe, is it the improper and free usage of obscenities which some newscaster or “block-timer” often do to gain more listeners?
In the field of rebellion, we have the “mainstream” or those who follow the tenets of Stalinist-Leninist-Maoist theories and on the other side of the trench are the “revisionists” who are considered as “private parties” by powerful politicians. Of course, this observation is no longer spoken in hushed tones but publicly well-known.
Foreign observers and organizations with similar orientations, one of which from Canada, have the same perceptions as some dyed-in-the-wool militants would point their accusing fingers at the government authorities.
What we need is really an independent body to make thorough and detailed investigations from men and women with unjaundiced eyes. The place, time, and circumstances when those bloody incidents took place must be taken without prior prejudices. The naked fact, after all, can only be given by those who are now in the custody of the law enforcing agencies.
The so-called political savagery is definitely not a single traffic of violence, but the same crisscrosses the path of vengeance, retaliation, or plain murder or homicide arising from bitterness, not necessarily connected with politics.
In the arena of politics, it is sad to note that there still exist people who view the realm of democracy as chaotic jungle of perverts trying to annihilate those not of their kind, and it is a pleasure also to know that there also exist people who view democracy as a way of life. And to attribute criminal wrongdoings to the agencies of the government and label such wrongdoings as “political killings”, well, that is guaranteed by the essence of democracy, where freedom is the most important essentials to all political systems.
Say what you want to say, but be ready to face the consequences of your acts. The loud mouth sucks. The vitriolic pen injures. Welcome to the jungle.
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