HUNDREDS of wang-wangs or sirens have reportedly been confiscated so far since President Benigno C. Aquino III gave law enforcers the marching order to seize all illegally-installed vehicle sirens and blinkers.
While these sirens have already been silenced (as of the moment), sirens are loudly ringing with the assassination of a Bayan Muna coordinator in Aklan, Monday; a reminder that a change in leadership may fan hopes in the hearts of millions but cannot cure the cancer that has breeds deep in our government's very system -- not just as a culture of impunity but also of expediency.
Fernando Baldomero, who during the campaign period was among those branded by the military as leftist activist ergo communist, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen around 6 a.m. Monday in his house in the village of Estancia in Kalibo, Aklan. He sustained two gunshot wounds in the head and neck.
His death is not unlike the death of over a hundred other activists who were gunned down while going about their life as a parent, a community worker or leader, or just a regular village resident.
To the hawks who have see only the enemy in all vestige of unrest it will always be easier to snuff out a life than to look around for a solution to the cause of the unrest.
Will Baldomero's death ever be meted justice, not for as long as law enforcers and crime investigators are willing to settle with closing their investigation because no witness would dare come out. Not for as long as government will ensure that witness protection programs cannot be breached and witnesses will not end up like Suwaib Upham alias Jesse. Upham, a witness to the Maguindanao killings was shot dead by an unidentified gunman shortly after 8 p.m. on June 14 in Parang municipality, Maguindanao. He had earlier agreed to testify against the Ampatuan family.
Will the essence of "walang wangwang" call by President Aquino, as a very simple but laudable show of being true public servants, really be imbibed by those in power? Not for as long as the vice president's convoy would continue to ignore red lights and turn where it is not allowed and be satisfied with just saying, "Pero wala namang wang-wang yun."
Yet another loud siren is clanging as Vice President Jemora Binay and his convoy last Monday was reported and recorded by national television news to have disregarded a red light and turned at a no left turn intersection because, as Binay said, he had so many appointments to attend.
"Kahit na agahan ko pa meron talagang magiging problema sa trapiko," he said on television.
Yes, hundreds of wang-wangs may have already been silenced, but the loudest sirens of all are still ringing all around us, warning us that the culture of impunity and expediency still reign on in the consciousness of the powers that be.