23/12/2020
"The Gregorios Murder: Isolated Case or Repeated Pattern?"
An isolated case, in a much simpler definition, is a rarely occurring incident or is unique on its own such as a high official violating health protocols for a birthday party or a government agency peddling fake news. Police brutality on the other hand is a recurring incident and is a very serious and common issue not only in the Philippines but everywhere in the world, I mean who doesn’t know the “F*ck The Police” slogan? The dawn of the present administration’s “War on Drugs” marks the beginning of the country’s rising popularity as far as human rights violations are concerned, and it’s not even surprising at all, in fact, Philippine’s Rodrigo Duterte boldly said:
“Hitler massacred 3 million Jews … there’s 3 million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
Over thousands of killings involving Philippine National Police (PNP) officers and unidentified vigilantes were reported yet most of these cases were still unresolved to this day. Majority or 91% of the country’s population were satisfied by the government’s methods, I’m talking about the “justifiable murders” during the drug war. Tyranny and impunity became part of the Filipino culture 4 years ago until the 20th of December, 2020, where outrage spark among netizens when a video of an elderly and her son who were both shot dead by an off-duty police officer in broad daylight was uploaded and shared on social media. The Gregorios Murder shed light to the dark reality that has been going on since the government’s war on drugs campaign, although this was not a drug-related case, the pattern is the same – Abuse of power and authority towards the poor and powerless by the ones in power. The typical Filipino mindset quickly shifted from “violent” to a “compassionate” kind of thinking towards suspected individuals.
While Filipinos are grieving with the loss of two innocent lives, cop defenders, the killer’s kabaros and even the PNP chief himself, who celebrated his birthday last 8th of May, 2020, claimed that the murder was an isolated case and that people should not generalize cops as a whole just because of one’s fault. But who can deny the fact that a rotten fruit when placed beside the good ones will cause the whole fruit to rot? Silencing media, TV network’s franchise denial and the passage of the nonsense Anti-Terror Law were the best tools to further protect cops from doing “good” deeds. We’ve been warned by the local and international human rights commissions yet we didn’t heed these warnings, instead, the 91% majority criticized them and even branded them as protectors of suspected criminals. This crime was never an isolated case, it’s just a repetition of a dark culture that even the PNP itself is proud of – “We are the LAW”.
And so, the next time you refer to cops as heroes, never forget their motto,
“In the service of our KABAROS and of those in power”.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/philippines-police-brutality-mother-shot/2020/12/21/0a5f9762-4358-11eb-ac2a-3ac0f2b8ceeb_story.html
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/768838/tarlac-shooting-sinas-angry-saddened-but-says-it-s-isolated/story/
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/820675/duterte-happy-to-slaughter-drug-suspects-mentions-hitler
https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/03/02/license-kill/philippine-police-killings-dutertes-war-drugs
