Guns and Justice

Assistant Provincial Public Prosecutor Alexander Sandoval was shot to death yesterday. He was young but an experienced prosecutor. Police investigators confirmed that he had sustained 9 gunshot wounds. The killers took their job seriously. They made sure that he would no longer stand up to prosecute criminals and violators.

But who can probe the mind of a killer?

Nobody knows for sure what prompted the assassins to kill Prosecutor Alex. Seldom would killers make known what motivate them in carrying out their nefarious design. Money usually serves as attractive motivation to the gun wielders. To the masterminds, however, stories are usually deeper than the money plot—well, one can only guess the evil that lurks behind the dark regions of those brains.

Prosecutor Alex was the second member of the Bar to have been killed in the province for the last ten years. The shooting of the late Judge Voltaire Rosales in Tanauan City on June 10, 2004, still rings up to this day. Both were ambushed by unidentified assailants; both were riddled with bullets a distance away from Hall of Justice.

Those nine bullets have shattered not only the lives of Prosecutor Alex’s family. Regardless of the motives that propelled them, they have pierced through the heart of Justice as well. With a prosecutor dead in the hands of unknown assassins, how can public prosecutors and lawyers do their work with equanimity and vigor?  Everything is standing still unless the wheels of justice started rolling for a dead Fiscal.

Loose guns and loose minds screw a lot. Justice requires that guns, if they are not all prohibited, should be under strict regulation. Parenthetically, gun control requires that loose firearms be eliminated completely; otherwise, gun control laws will become farcical, a sick joke to peace-loving citizens. All these require a decisive government, a ruling administration which is tough on crimes and their perpetrators.

Guns and Justice are anathema to one another. Guns represent lawlessness and violence while justice symbolizes the rule of law. They do not mix and they should not mix-up. But in an imperfect world, in a society where laws fall short to the requirements of justice, the resort to arms to get justice is too tempting. Should prosecutors and lawyers resort to guns to insure that “justice will be done, though heavens should fall?” Answers should be provided so that their minds can be appeased. After all, this is not a rhetorical question. The context under which they perform their work justifies the practicality of the question.

Whatever caused Prosecutor’s death is inconsequential at this point. The prosecution of perpetrators and everyone who has a hand in his killing is the most important thing to his family and friends. This will assure justice to his family and restore the dignity of the criminal justice system.

Prosecutor Alexander Sandoval now belongs to our memory. He has become a symbol of our quest for a just and peaceful society. May he continue to remind us that more is required of those who are entrusted with the mission of bringing justice to the people. So long..Prosecutor Alex, rest in peace.  

Re-writing History

The internet is like any other products of human ingenuity—it may be used in whatever way its user prefers.

Even history may be re-written with the internet. This is one of the implications of the e-age. The propaganda age has gone into another level. It has levelled up at tremendous and an uncontrollable pace.

The case of Ferdinand Marcos, Philippines’ infamous President, illustrates this point. The administration that took over from his reign had hard time re-writing the textbooks which were prescribed in Philippine public schools for almost twenty years. These martial law textbooks depicted Marcos as highly intelligent and virtuous and that martial law had brought order and progress to the Philippine society.

The revision of these textbooks did not happen overnight. For one, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS, the predecessor of the Department of Education) was saddled with problems confronting the reorganization of the bureaucracy under the new administration. As such, textbook revisions were left to contractors and providers.

With the failure of the subsequent administration in uplifting the lives of ordinary citizens, it has been difficult to depict the evils of martial rule. The lives of the people did not improve. Graft and corruption have not lessened.  Because of this, the logic and reasons behind the EDSA revolt end up with yearly musing about what really happened during those fateful days. The unmasked evils that gave rise to the upheaval were concealed by subsequent failures of governance.  

             Justice Isagani Cruz once said:

“The death of Marcos has not plunged the nation into paroxysms of grief as the so-called "loyalists" had hoped. By and large, it has been met with only passing interest if not outright indifference from the people. Clearly, the discredited dictator is in death no El Cid. Marcos dead is only an unpleasant memory, not a bolt of lightning to whip the blood. This only shows that if he was at all a threat to the national security when he was already moribund that feeble threat has died with him. As the government stresses, he has been reduced to a non-person (which makes me wonder why it is still afraid of him). His cadaver is not even regarded as a symbol of this or that or whatever except by his fanatical followers. It is only a dead body waiting to be interred in this country. This is a tempest in a teapot. We have more important things to do than debating over a corpse that deserves no kinder fate than dissolution and oblivion. I say let it be brought home and buried deep and let us be done with it forever. (see Marcos v. Manglapus, G.R. No. 88211, Resolution on Motion for Reconsideration, October 27, 1989)

             Justice Isagani Cruz’ point of view is valid unto this day of course. However, with the resurgence of the Marcoses in Philippine politics (the clan has a senator now, a Congresswoman and a governor, and allies occupying high positions in government), it has now become easier to depict the deposed dictator as a hero and social messiah. The internet has provided the medium for building the cult anew. The dead is rising again—the social networking sites are giving birth to a new regime of the undead.