I USED to have ambivalent feelings towards the death penalty. Not anymore. I am convinced that it should be re-imposed, that those who commit heinous crimes deserve an equal measure of punishment, and that anyone whose criminal perversity threatens the security of society forfeits his membership in that society.
Those who oppose the death penalty claim that the basis and philosophy of modern penology is not retribution but reformation; and that even the most depraved criminal should be given the opportunity to assimilate with mainstream society. It is also alleged that there is no empirical evidence to prove that a punishment as harsh as death is a deterrent to crime.
Baloney. The issue here is accountability. Anyone who does wrong has to be held to account in accordance with the gravity of that wrong. If a person slaps a minor, he should be jailed for child abuse. But if he rapes her and then throws her body into a ravine, imprisonment is not enough. Even the Constitution does not proscribe the death penalty; it only limits its application to heinous crimes as may be defined by law.
Having said that, let me hasten to add that court-ordered executions and extra-judicial killings are two distinctly different animals, even if the latter is also State-sponsored. Anyone, no matter how high his public office, who directs or sanctions the execution of a drug lord, for example, without affording him due process is no less a criminal than the person killed.
There has been a spate of high profile killings lately, mostly with alleged drug lords at the receiving end. The police say that each was killed in a legitimate encounter, denying allegations of a rubout. I trust that the police are telling the truth. I do not want the badge that my late father proudly wore to be tainted with the blood of defenseless criminal suspects.
***
Oh, that garbage again, that foul smelling pile in the middle of the street in our neighborhood that daily attracts a thousand flies but never, it seems, the attention of the garbage collector. Yes, you read it right: the trash, uncollected for days, has now spilled over from the sidewalk to the road.
I have raised the problem in this space and on radio countless of times. I have sought the intervention of friends in high places. Why, I even prayed that God and his Infinite Goodness would touch the hearts of our officials, including and most especially the barangay captain of Sambag I, so they’ll move their fat behinds and get rid of the eyesore and health hazard.
No luck so far. Twice, I thought a permanent solution was in sight: first, when then Acting Mayor Edgar Labella ordered the city’s chief of public services to “immediately take action” and, second, when current Acting Mayor Margot Osmeña issued the same order to the same public office. In both instances, garbage collectors did show up, only to disappear a couple of weeks later.
Early this week, I asked the help of The Freeman’s Rene Borromeo to bring the problem to the attention of Mrs. Osmeña. Her reply: garbage collection is the primary responsibility of the barangay but yes, she will act on it. Rene likewise contacted the city’s chief garbage collector, who promised to get the job done within the day.
Three days have since passed and the unsightly and smelly pile is still there. I heard that Sambag 1’s garbage truck is out of commission, has been for what must have been months already. Why it has not been repaired, I do not know. What I do know, and only because I read about it in the papers yesterday, is that our barangay captain is one of the Magnificent 7 who have continued to not heed the acting mayor’s demand to return their luxury vehicles to the city government.
Good grief.
(frankotherside@gmail.com)