Theres The Rub
Disgusting
By Conrado de Quiros
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:07:00 10/13/2008
MANILA, Philippines - Sometimes I wonder if Raul Gonzalez says the most idiotic things just to take attention away from his favorite boss and bring it to himself. But then I figure that’s investing him with too much faculty of intelligence—even calculation is so—that’s totally alien to him. So I’ll just chalk it up to intrinsic character and natural predisposition. He’s just a petty, mean-spirited and foul-mouthed man whom GMA put in the position of justice secretary to tell us of what kind of justice we might expect from her.
Gonzalez’s latest antic is to call the Hultmans “hypocrites” for showing outrage at their daughter’s murderer being granted executive clemency by Gonzalez’s favorite boss. He says they knew way back in 1999 when they signed a settlement with Teehankee that Teehankee would be up for pardon at some point. Why should they be surprised it happened? Indeed, why should they feel betrayed at not being informed of GMA’s decision? GMA does not owe anyone any explanation or advance notice. She is the president. Her powers may not be curbed by these obligations.
His favorite boss, Gonzalez goes on, did this out of good faith. She has nothing to gain from it. Certainly, nothing political.
The Makati Business Club for one shows how Gonzalez and his favorite boss miss the point entirely. “While government may have made the motions to meet the minimum requirements of the law … Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez have demonstrated a dismaying indifference to the plight of the victims’ families …. Why deny the Hultmans, one of the grievously offended parties in this case, the courtesy and the right to be informed and to respond to the government decision? With the Arroyo administration’s mishandling of the Teehankee case, we only see a further erosion in the people’s trust in our public institutions.”
Exactly. This is not about the letter of the law, this is about the spirit of the law. This is not about legal technicalities, this is about fundamental justice. Or, hell, this is not about prerogative and power; this is about fairness and decency. Do you need to have a horrendous tragedy like the one that befell the Hultmans and Chapmans befall you to feel the pain of those families? Do you need to have a loved one taken from you in this oppressive way to feel the force that’s tearing up the hearts of those left to deal with it? Some things heal with time, some don’t. This one doesn’t, this one won’t. In fact, you don’t even need a modicum of imagination to feel their pain and anguish. You need only a shred of humanity, a twinge of awareness of what it means to be flesh and blood, to do so.
The Hultmans have of course denied that they ever agreed to see their daughter’s murderer breathe the air of a free man, and between their word and that of Gonzalez (and his boss), it’s a no-brainer who to believe. But more than that, this regime must really have gotten so used to justifying atrocity with legal technicality, it can no longer see when those two things clash violently. This is a case the ordinary citizen—no, the ordinary mortal—relying only on the law that’s written in his heart cannot fail to grasp in all its tragic dimensions. The Hultmans and Chapmans have been grievously harmed. They have lost a loved one, a daughter and son in the carefree-ness of youth, to a raving madman. One cannot begin to imagine the anguish that brings.
To say that the Hultmans have already been paid, they should shut up and let well enough alone, only a blackguard would say that. To say that the Hultmans no longer have any business with Teehankee, his fate is up to God and GMA, neither of whom owes them courtesy or sympathy, only a fool would say that. To say that the Hultmans are hypocrites for being appalled by the lightness with which this government regards murder, one done with absolute impunity and pitilessness, only an asshole would say that.
Look at what the Hultmans (and Chapmans) have had to go through this past week. Already burdened by a grief that time can never heal, they’ve just seen the murderer of their daughter and son become a free man after a relatively brief stint in jail (in relation to his crime, which is double murder) and in conditions that make jail look like a tourist destination. Quite apart from that, they’ve just had to glimpse anew the tyranny of the past.
Maureen Hultman and Roland John Chapman were shot to death coming home laughing and joking after a night out by someone who was out on a power trip. Despite their pleas, they were gunned down, their shooter wanting to prove to the world and himself he was in command, he was in charge, he was the man. Today, their parents have been shot down while they lay in the thought their murderer was in jail by people who are out on a power trip. Despite their protestations, they have been dismissed, even called hypocrites, their tormentors wanting to prove to the world and themselves they are in command, they are in charge, they have the power.
GMA has nothing to gain from this? What can one say? They’re liars. Incorrigible, unrepentant, god-awful liars. At the very least, it scores points with the judges who owe the Teehankees—the military has its “mistah” culture, the legal community has its “pañero” culture—the better to predispose them to go along with whatever GMA is planning. At the very most, it gets people used to the one message government is constantly beaming like a hypnotic suggestion until the people lose all possible resistance to it. GMA can do pretty much anything she pleases. She can will to bring about pretty much anything she pleases. She is in command, she is in charge, she is the-woman. She can get away with anything.
Even bloody murder.
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