A country of murderers

By Mr. John Anthon Estolloso, MEd

“Beware the Ides of March.”

For those familiar with Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” the date reeks with ominous intent. A soothsayer warns the eponymous character of the date yet he disregards it. By the third act of the play, we see Caesar at the Roman Capitol standing in the middle of disgruntled senators, and in a dramatic frenzy, daggers were unsheathed and plunged into the hapless body of the general-turned-king.

It is great theater when it is up on stage. Still, it does not detract from the historical fact that it was murder most brutal and political. More than the dramatics is the understanding and reminder that foul instances such as this have been the plight of many an ill-made civilization and has augured the start of their downfall. This violence is the trademark of a medieval and mediocre society whose coherent discipline and way of life is held together by fear, ignorance, and intimidation rather than the enlightenment of reason, just laws, and the due process with which these are implemented.

We have seen this trademark before – that is, if we choose to see it. We have seen it in the segregation decrees of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. We have seen it with the desaparacidos of Marcos’s 1972 Martial Law. We have seen it in the massacre of students in Tiananmen Square in 1989. We have seen it in George Floyd’s dying gasp, even as a policeman knelt on his neck. We saw it in December of 2020 when one in our police force shot a mother and child in anger and in cold blood. We saw it last year when a lawyer was stabbed by the sidewalks of Iloilo City, and with the deaths of activists in a dubious police operation. We saw it last Sunday with the mindless shooting at the steps of Ateneo’s Areté. And more will come.

There will be more because in a certain way, we have permitted it. Perhaps we are cowed that the same violence will be committed to our person, or to the persons we hold dear. After all, fear – like courage – is infectious, and one is easily silenced under adverse circumstances. This is the perfect ground on which a culture of impunity is cultivated: there is the fearful silence that blesses, protects, supports, encourages, and perpetuates cruelty and violence to the extent that these wreak havoc on the Filipino’s integrity, religiosity, and moral fiber.

Come to think of it, there is much irony in the matter. Consider those people who cross themselves when they pass a church yet would have heartily agreed to crucify someone on mere suspicion of a wrongdoing. Ponder why those conservatives who marched for life against abortion and who march to the communion rail every Sunday, remain sedate on the matter of blood spilled every other day on the streets. Reflect on those self-professed Christians who would praise God on Sunday and on other days, would scream death and damnation in the name of righteousness at their fellow human beings on social media.

In like manner, there are members of the academe who emblazon their walls with academic certificates or attach a parade of initials after their names yet swallow every unreasonable excuse given by the perpetrators of this carnage, no matter how pathetic, illogical, and superficial these sounds are. There are practitioners of the medical profession who have raised their hands to swear a sacrosanct oath to preserve human life and yet openly support a campaign that has, in its very core, the sadistic intent to end, end, end human lives.

This is the deteriorating state of this State of ours and it will continue to fester. Every other day becomes the Ides of March in this country as the privileged, the fanatical, and the gullible among us are drawn to the rhetoric of an easy national greatness brought about by violence and extremism. In that unholy pursuit of a flawed peace and order, it brings about nothing but more division, disorder, and despair – a dehumanization of the Filipino already steeped in the crises of daily life.

And as this country plods on through this bloody national road to nowhere, it is perhaps apt to paraphrase one of G.K. Chesterton’s moral aphorisms: that beneath the demagoguery of ultra-nationalism and state security, under all the technical jargon and sophistry justifying murder and violence, one would still find etched in eternity: ‘THOU SHALT NOT KILL’ – and true enough, no amount of legal juggling and side-stepping can efface that.

So take a good long look at things. Where are we now?

Where else can you find elected government officials, journalists, writers, lawyers, activists, students, farmers, and labor and reform advocates killed under broad daylight for the contemptible reason of being ‘suspected armed rebels’ or else, collateral damage?

Can we say, in good faith and with conviction, that the powers that be are doing their best to address and correct these crimes? Can we convince ourselves that certain people in high government have not encouraged this spate of killings – deliberately or otherwise – in their words and actions?

Has the Filipino become so stupidly dull and dumb that the only way to keep him in line is with bludgeon and bloodshed? Have we lost our judicious sense and understanding that peace and order are ordained and maintained by the majesty, goodwill, and due process of the law? (Emphasis on goodwill.)

Have we become so morally cauterized and catatonic that a fellow human being deprived of the basic requirement to humanity draws no reaction from us? Is life too cheap and integrity too expensive for the Filipino?

Have we become a ‘safer’ country – or have we become a country of murderers?

(The author is a humanities teacher of Ateneo de Iloilo)