Culture of violence

EDITORIAL

The arrest of former Abra Gov. Vicente Valera for murder and the killing of a vital witness in the slay of publicist Salavador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito last week mirrors the culture of violence in this country wracked by too much politics and corruption.

In the case of Abra, Valera’s arrest will not stop the killings and violence in the province, police admit, but it is a strong message to killers, political clans and families that if you kill, sooner or later, the law will catch up with you.

As for the Dacer- Corbito case, it is an alarming development that Jimmy Lopez, a former civilian agent of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) was killed at his home in Cavite on Wednesday.

Lopez was due to testify on murder charges which implicated former Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson who is now an incumbent senator. The long arm of the law may still catch up with mastermind/s in the Dacer-Corbito case but as things stand, witnesses are now in fear of the lives after the killing of Lopez. Who will be next for silencing?

All over the country, there is a dangerous pattern of killing witnesses or political opponents and life has become so cheap. There are reports that in Abra alone, guns-for-hire could snuff out a life for only P5,000. It is a welcome development that somehow, the police, army and religious sectors are trying to find means to stop the killings in the province.

In San Carlos City in Pangasinan, the city prosecutor recommended the filing of double murder and multiple frustrated murder charges against 16 people, including a former mayor, for the 2007 killing of Mayor Julian Resuello and his bodyguard. Somehow, investigations on Resuello’s murder are turning positive.

There are a lot others. It is wishful thinking to say that the killings would stop. But there are ways that these could somehow be lessened. The government should be the one leading in peace and order including “moral recovery” programs to stop the menace. But if government officials, especially those in top echelons of bureaucracy cannot lead by example, then the administration’s pronouncements of making the country a safer place to live in is merely lip service.