Saturday, September 08, 2007 Roperos: Perverted justice By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
TWO “executions” in the past three days may have marked the return of the “vigilantes” after a lull of a few months.
The assassination of two alleged underworld characters happened since vigilante-style killings stopped for quite sometime now after the outcry against such perverted justice got strong adverse reaction from the international community.
I observed though that during the weeks when “vigilante” guns were silenced came a surge in criminal activities that seemed to fill the void left by the inactive assassins. My observation, though, is open to dispute. There is always the matter of coincidence.
Also, the killing of Rodulfo Atega Jr. a few days ago may have nothing to do with his involvement in a series of robberies, or with his being a member of the Meloy Garcia gang. The same could also be true for the second killing a day later.
Truth to tell, I am tempted to put the title “Return of the vigilantes” to this piece rather than alluding to what is happening now as a perversion of justice considering that the public has long accepted our law enforcers inability to contain the upsurge of criminality in our city.
The problem is that while there are many good and reliable members of our law enforcement agencies, there are also some worrisome elements who are bringing down the respectable name of the agencies.
The fact that media, by the nature of its function, has to focus on the bad elements and their nefarious activities makes the situation awkward on the part of the good cops since what they are doing seldom get written about because these are expected of them.
When those in the employ of government render the needed public services media takes these for granted. But when one veers away from public expectations, then it becomes a variant, something beyond the “ordinary,” and it lands the front or inside page of the daily.
When police officers who are expected to up hold the law go out of their way to violate it, something is decidedly wrong in society. People’s confidence in our law enforcement is shaken and certain members of society who have lost trust in our law enforcers may decide to take things into their own hands and render judgment without trial.
Unfortunately, when these “vigilantes” roamed, criminal activities slowed down, indicating a kind of perversion of our sense of justice. But where do we “locate” human rights here?
