IT MAY be correct to say that the current administration has had nothing to do with the act of the police officer who killed Sonya and Frank Gregorio. Certainly, he did not act under the order of a higher up and the altercation between him and the victims arose from a personal thus private context. But when people reacted with much disturbance to the incident it was in response to a much deeper issue which many in this country could resonate with: violence.
Here we are not just talking about violence in general but one that comes from the exercise of state power. Some would call it police brutality, others human rights violations. At the core of it is the collective feeling of insecurity and threat from no less than the law enforcement agents of the state.
This is not to say that all law enforcers are alike. There is no point in repeating what has been a very superfluous statement: not everyone in PNP is bad. Precisely because this is to some extent correct, that there is no reason for us to, again and again, post this proposition on social media. But despite the validity of such statements, and this is the more important concern, something must be done with the people’s fear towards their law enforcement officers.
Let us stop the invocation of Lee Kuan Yew and the comparison between Singapore and the Philippines. This is not about the need for peace and order. This is not about subverting things and promoting disrespect for policemen. This is about respecting them and the law but based on the ethical standards that they should live by to make them truly respectable. We were not born yesterday, and the reality of police brutality has been a part of Philippine society’s cancer. We have had more than enough of this across administrations and up to now, we are haunted by those who were killed without due process.
Those who argue that the matter would not have ended tragically if only Sonya Gregorio was respectful to the police – are not only not thinking. They lack the bare minimum that is needed to be a human being: sensitivity. Killing a defenseless individual simply because of disrespect cannot be justified. It is of the same logic as bombing an entire barangay because of their inability to follow a simple curfew ordinance past eleven in the evening.
What about some people’s anti-administration sentiment? Defenders of the palace have been saying that the opposition has capitalized on the death of the Gregorios in order to revive old issues against the president. Let’s admit that there is a truth to this. However this “truth of the matter” must not be disregarded. An equally significant and related concern is the culture of violence that has suffused Philippine society.
Isn’t it puzzling why people are divided even on how to react over a barbaric act? Isn’t it disturbing when people cannot even be united in their grief because some would prefer to look for justifications before they can grieve with certitude? What is the cause of the divide, and what is the origin of the insensitivity of some? What is the reason behind the silence of many? It should not be the spirit of Christmas.
It is time to say it more clearly: a major contributing factor to people’s tolerance for violence is no less the state. People’s unqualified belief in the necessity of violence is the cumulative effect of the state’s tolerance for it. Wasn’t it said two years ago that “human rights” are not as important as “human lives?” That single statement was not harmless. It was not the signal of the beginning of something horrible, in fact, it already was a symptom of a worsening social cancer among Filipinos. That deadly disease that is eating us up: the tolerance for violence and even the nerve to justify it. A disease so serious that it can even allow people to celebrate the misa de gallo and yet remain silent on something that should bother anyone who believes in redemption.