ONLY TIMELY medical intervention saved my son from certain death after he was robbed and then shot in broad daylight in December 2015 by thugs riding tandem on a motorcycle. The first thing that came to my mind was to gather evidence to back up a prosecution for frustrated murder and exact the full penalty prescribed by law.
But as I watched my son fight for his life, the thought of taking the law into my own hands did occur to me—and to hell with “due process”! At that moment, then presidential candidate, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, became my kind of guy! Did I care about his foul mouth? Not a hoot! As I cried over my son who was in agony, I kept muttering the same cuss words in Duterte’s stock in trade repeatedly, while I saw visions of those thugs being blown away with my shotgun!
The lawyer in me just did not seem relevant anymore during that time. Or perhaps, that was the very reason I thought I should just go ahead and do a Duterte with those evildoers so that never again could they victimize others. The bleeding hearts in the Commission on Human Rights would insist criminals have human rights, too, and are entitled to “due process.” If I had the chance, I would have told them the same thing Duterte did: Go to hell!
Drawing from my own law practice for many years, I had adumbrated a scenario in my mind that held no bright prospect for real relief: If the culprits got caught at all, we would have to file a complaint for criminal prosecution. After preliminary investigation, charges would be filed in court where the accused would post bail with money derived from their banditry and then be allowed to roam freely. And that is when the long, long wait for justice and bouts of anxiety would start gnawing at our souls.
As the criminals know where my son works and lives (from the wallet they stole containing his IDs, etc.), I could not discount the clear opportunity for them to silence him forever. No witness, no case! And given the glacier-paced movement of cases in this country before criminals are locked up in jail for good, that would have meant years of sleepless nights for my whole family.
I had every reason to fear for the lives of my family. With such criminals on the loose, we would all be sitting ducks! Could we not rely on police presence and protection? Let me rephrase that: Has not criminality become more rampant these days and criminals much bolder because our police authorities are either sleeping on the job or in cahoots with them? This is not anecdotal: A high foreign embassy official once lost his vehicle, with classified documents in it, to car thieves. Because the order came from the very top to recover it, that vehicle was brought back to the embassy intact, in under 24 hours! No serious “intelligence” work was needed. There was no doubt in anybody’s mind the police authorities knew exactly where to find it!
But the thing is, the motorcycle riders that pounced on my son had helmets and covers on their heads. There was no way my son could recognize any of them even if a lineup were set up before his eyes. Hence, judicial redress was out of the question. In all likelihood, those hoodlums might have racked up more petty and serious crimes since then. Would the police authorities know who the criminals are in their neck of the woods? If they don’t, they are hopelessly inept and incompetent; and if they do but do nothing to stop them, Houston, we have a huge problem! Either way, they have no business being in the police force.
Here’s wishing Duterte would make good his threat to put the kibosh on criminality, or at least send criminals (and their protectors in uniform) on the run or, better yet, six feet under the ground.
—STEPHEN L. MONSANTOMonsanto Law Office, Loyola Heights, Quezon City, lexsquare.firm@gmail.com