Saturday, May 03, 2008 Editorial: Nurture that sense of outrage
TWO articles in Sun.Star Davao's April 30, 2008 issue generated so much response and reactions: First, the editorial ("Something is wrong here") about the 51-year-old man who was robbed by the 15-year-old girl that he hired for sex, which ended with the police releasing both old man and young girl upon the return of the P3,000 the girl stole.
The editorial pounded on the fact that the theft case was brought about by the crime committed by the man when he hired a minor for sex -- a grave crime committed to a child.
And yet, the man was allowed to leave, not even reprimanded for his crime; and maybe, even happy for the help of the policemen in recovering his money.
As of Friday, it was learned that the desk officer would be charged for such oversight.
The second, that sent the office phones ringing from worried policemen, were the blind items in our weekday "Bzzz" ("Party to death" and "Dumping ground") that criticized the dusk till morning parties of teenage youths in this beach resort; pointing out that at least two city laws are being violated here -- curfew for minors and liquor ban (which can also include serving of liquor to minors and maybe even cigarettes). We still haven't had an update if the police has already clamped down on this nightly party.
The positive reactions to these articles fan this paper's resolve to never lose that sense of outrage when something wrong is being done to or by our children, as we urge all Dabawenyos to nurture that sense of outrage as well.
We already have so many children in trouble; we have to ensure that those who can still be redeemed and those who are still truly innocent stay within the bounds of law, away from crimes -- whether as the ones committing them or the ones being victimized.
We have seen how our tacit approval of killings of criminals has made murder an accepted form of justice in our city. The same form of justice that is now mowing down the young hooligans in our inner city settlements. We might just shrug all these and say, "They brought it upon themselves." But for as long as we just shrug all this off, it will continue to eat into our society's consciousness such that the death of a person will no longer be a cause for outrage.
Just think, when was the last time we demanded explanation for the death of a young hooligan? The death of two such boys -- Maymay and Royroy -- along Ilustre Street in July 1999 has generated an outrage of sorts among child rights groups. The outrage has since died down even as more and more teenage boys are being killed, this year alone. In less than a decade, we as a people have lost that sense of outrage for the snuffing out of a young life. All because, we just shrugged all the killings off; just as we are shrugging off the presence of young girls being hawked for sex along Tiongko Avenue or the Victoria Plaza parking lot. It's a sad, but stark reality that we should not allow to continue.
