Wednesday, May 30, 2007 Editorial: A call for help
THE fact that President Arroyo welcomed the help of the New Zealand government and the international community in general in combating the rising incidence of extra-judicial killings may be a comfort for some but to others it only showed the inutility of this administration in stopping these heinous crimes from happening.
The appeal came amid the filing of charges against two soldiers for the kidnapping of a UCCP pastor who may be aligned with militant groups and the reported admission of some police officers with the incident.
How the National Government, in particular the Arroyo administration, allowed this to happen can only be speculated at but this is typical of the kind of climate known critics are hard-pressed to operate in, that brooks no opposition and tend to punish those who do so by extra-legal means.
Okay so the Arroyo government is calling on foreign aid to help stop the extra-judicial killings but how does it handle criticism of its failure to stop these murders by the very same international community it is seeking help from?
With barefaced ignorance of course, backed by claims of innocence from the military, which continues to beef up its anti-insurgency campaign with legal and extra-legal means.
While the militants echo the UN finding statement that the national government specifically its military is in denial over the spate of extra-judicial killings, Arroyo's latest appeal may be for the best in a similar way that addicts acknowledge the problem and try to seek rehabilitation for their worsening condition.
Unfortunately the analogy stops there. People tend to be blasé or apathetic to the killings since it doesn't happen in front of their doorsteps. After all since it only happens to militants and other perceived enemies of the state, why should they worry, right?
But that's precisely the kind of conditioning being done by the national government to render the populace apathetic and docile for easier manipulation.
So while all the noise being generated by the critics may be sound and fury, it simply doesn't signify anything at all.
There is something happening in our midst but due to our constant struggle to make both ends meet, we simply ignore it as yet another ugly facet of our existence in this country.
Through these reported kidnappings we are made aware that not all is well in this part of the world and government is doing its best to desensitize us to the violence that occurs right in front of us, though not at our doorsteps--at least not yet anyway.
