“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” – VOLTAIRE.
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Brazen. Outrageous. Brutal. Barbaric. Atreocious. Murderers. Killers.
All the above are not even sufficient to aptly describe the recent assassination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and several others in a daytime killing rampage occuring inside his own dwelling compound in Pamplona.
Several suspects have been rounded up, one already slain in a shootout with pursuing policemen and so much already has been written but still to be firmly determined and officially exposed is/are the identity/ies of the mastermind/s.
Much earlier before this killing spree on March 4, there was the highway ambush of Lanao Sur Gov. Bombit Adiong and his security escorts. Though wounded, Adiong survived the violent assault but not some of his men.
On. Feb. 19, Vice-Mayor Rommel Alameda of Aparri, Cagayan and five others in his party were also gunned down in a road ambush in Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya.
Similar to the Degamo killing, the killers, according to news reports, wore military uniforms.
Not to mention the much-hyped assassination of media person Percy Lapid, the recent spate of violence seems to indicate an epidemic of lawlessness and criminality.
While the PNP hierarchy is always inclined to rationalize that these were but isolated cases, the public cannot but think otherwise.
Pinoys may not be as meticulously intelligent and patiently probing as Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. Watson but there seems to be no need for the authorities to elaborate as the effort becomes a flimsy defensive mechanism.
Are the dark days of political vendetta, business double cross and mafia-like assassins-for-hire back in our midst?
Senior citizens should remember Moises Padilla, an insignificant guerrila WWII hero who defied a political warlord in Negros Occidental in the fifties.
Despite lacking resources, he braved the odds (and lost), running for mayor of Magallon town in 1951 (which was later named after him).
As news petered out, Padilla was brutally tortured (like in the movies) before he was shot and killed.
Then Defense Sec. Ramon Magsaysay pursued Padilla’s tormentors and eventually nailed down Gov. Rafael Lacson and his cohorts.
(Padilla’s bio was made into an epic movie in 1961 and submitted as the Philippine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 34th Academy Awards but was not accepted as a nominee.)
Augmentation military and police personnel have now been moved to Neghros Oriental obviously to contain what may blow up to be a tindrbox of sorts, if the situation is not promptly addressed..
Police authorities appear to be blowing hot and cold as they carefully clear the “chaff from the grain,” picking up hard lessons from the Lapid slay case where the legal procedures and determination have dragged on like a headless chicken running in multi-directions.
These killings are not ordinary crimes, to begin with.
Powerful and moneyed people looking to liquidate their mortal enemies could be the perpetrators and masterminds.
How else can one bring together a band of cold-blooded killers and guns for hire if one does not have money and power?
With power, one exercises authority over people and subordinates.
With money, one can ensure he gets the best men, services and materials.
The ICC must be watching over our shoulders now, curiously looking if our justice system is really functioning.
Have the government authorities set their own deadline to solve these big-time killings?
If they don’t, the public might presume they (the authorities) are facing a blank wall.
If not, why are they acting like a slow poke?
The Alameda family said so, that the police were too slow in catching the Vice-Mayor’s assaillants.
Gov. Adiong’s ambusher have not been clearly identified and arrested. Are there any new concrete leads to this day?.
Are they waiting for the President to issue special and specific orders so that whatever move they do will carry the weight of a presidential imprimatur?
These violent attacks, killings and ambushes – particularly the Degamo assassination – are testing the credibility and capability of the PNP.. Quo vadis, Sir DG Azurin? (Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
