Extrajudicial killings and the justice system

I am a private citizen and not a lawyer. But I know that every citizen must know his rights and must understand our laws and our justice system.

Every citizen has the basic right to life and liberty. All our laws are made to protect the rights of each and every citizen. When there is an apparent violation of our laws, it is too easy to accuse, to condemn and to execute a suspected criminal. The right of a citizen is so sacred that we have instituted a very thorough system to be certain that the right of an innocent individual would not be violated. The protection of a citizen’s right is incomparably more important than the conviction of a suspected criminal.

When we come to think of it, everything about our justice system — our elaborate laws, our law enforcement agencies, our courts and rules of court, our judges and justices — they all exist for one thing: the protection of the right of the innocent and not the prosecution of the suspect. Why is this so? Look at the remorse, anger, sadness and regret we feel for the death of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos.

Junking our justice system for extrajudicial killings is the height of insanity.

CRISTINO SANTOS, [email protected]