Thursday, September 27, 2007 Wenceslao: Liddawa's defense By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
“KUN nakulatahan siya, aw, mirisi.” This line, or words to this effect, I heard from Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas’ (KBP’s) Edward Abad, when he was asked by radio station dyLA last week to react to the traffic altercation between an ABS-CBN crew and Police Senior Insp. Jose Liddawa, former Subangdaku Police Station chief.
I won’t blame Abad for the statement. He probably didn’t expect to be asked to give a reaction and was thus unprepared, or he was just too eager to defend the personnel of a KBP member station. In that altercation, Liddawa’s car hit the vehicle of an ABS-CBN crew. In the confrontation, punches flew and Liddawa landed in the hospital.
Abad’s line of thinking was shared by a good number of people, especially those who saw the footage of a TV Patrol report showing the drunk police official punch on ABS-CBN cameraman. Many people, including Liddawa’s lawyer, feel however that the footage was edited so what the ABS-CBN crew did to Liddawa wouldn’t be shown.
The argument was that Liddawa, if he was mauled (obviously badly as shown by his injury), asked for it or simply deserved it. That is a variation of the hawkish an eye for an eye, or even a life for an eye, theme. These people probably even think that by being drunk, hitting an ABS-CBN car and punching a cameraman, Liddawa deserved to die.
One should be reminded, though, of another cliché: You cannot solve a crime by committing another crime. Mauling somebody is not legal, no matter what incident sparked it. It is like vigilante-style killings. You do not kill suspected robbers to stop the rise of robbery incidents. Another cliche: You should not put the law into your hands.
While it is normal to strike back when you are assaulted, there is also such a thing as control. In that ABS-CBN footage, after Liddawa punched cameraman Joel Noel, the latter did the right thing by backing off. But for no apparent reason, Noel went again near Liddawa, who reacted by punching him again. That was before the footage was cut.
I maintain my stand that the ABS-CBN crew should just have called authorities, like the police, to either pacify Liddawa or have him arrested. My friend Ramil Paican is a veteran reporter and he has contact number of police units. Had he and his companions done that, public opinion on that incident wouldn’t have become polarized like it is now.
Liddawa and lawyer Noel Archival wouldn’t have had much of a defense.
