Much has been said about the so-called “culture of death” now prevailing in our country with President Duterte’s ongoing war on criminality, mostly targeting the illegal drug trade. For which the President himself has received a lot of flak from the international community. He has also been accused of wanton violation of the rights of suspects.
President Duterte has justified the killings of drug traffickers during police operations. As of this writing, the death toll has ballooned to more than 3,000, and counting, including those reportedly made by vigilantes or death squads. He has ordered the policemen to defend themselves if their life is in danger, and that is by shooting to death those who choose to fight it out. The deaths from police buy-bust operations seem to be understandable, but definitely not those committed by the vigilantes.
The vigilante killings of suspected drug traffickers are generally too brutal. Mostly, the victims’ faces are covered with packaging tape, obviously before bullets are pumped into their heads and bodies. The sheer impunity with which these crimes are done makes us question just how low the moral standards of many of us have gone. Our rule of law and even God’s commandment not to kill are being totally disregarded.
We might never know the identities of the vigilantes. They might be able to get away with their heinous crimes till the end of their lives. But they must remember: There is always a time of reckoning, and it comes in God’s time. If not in this life, surely, in the hereafter.
God cannot be mocked. Better suffer now your evil deeds than suffer in hell for eternity.
Stop the killings now. Stop the madness.
THERESA PILI-NISPEROS, Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila