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Friday, June 25, 2010

Poetic Justice

Jesse and Bunso are dead.

Jesse was a gunman in the Ampatuan Massacre and would-be star witness against the main culprits; Bunso, a robbery and homicide suspect. Now, both are dead.

Jesse was gunned down in Maguindanao by an unidentified gunman whose motives "were still unclear" to the police. He died June 14 and the blotter said it was just another case of killing, like a case of neighbors fighting over a branch of a tree trespassing to another fence. That's how killing in Maguindanao has become, petty and mundane.

Bunso got himself identified via a closed circuit television (CCTV). He was one of the riding-in-tandem suspects in the robbery and killing of a marine engineer on June 17. He was arrested last Tuesday. I even saw him on the evening news denying the allegations. Two days later he underwent inquest proceedings. On his way back to the police station and he, handcuffed and escorted by three armed policemen, allegedly tried to grab the gun of one of them. Yes, he in handcuffs. For that, he received three gun shots in the head. And died.

Are these two cases a matter of poetic justice? Later, when I'm stripped of my humanity, I will decide.

But what I'm sure of is that both Jesse and Bunso were once children. They had mothers. They fell in love. They once dreamed of somethihng big. They once prayed. They were once told not to steal candies or to be quiet for someone was asleep.

No, none of the two killings is poetically just. And I don't need to lose my humanity to know that.

2 comments:

  1. I am sorry for not sharing the same sentiment. A cousin of mine (10 years younger than me) was killed two months ago for his laptop. I was a victim of crime myself just last week. Being on the raw end of these things maybe has stripped me of my humanity. I am not sure. I feel a little sorry for the potential witness, but no, not for Bunso who was caught on tape doing the deed.

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  2. I saw Bunso's mother wailing and crying for justice. Very ironic, isn't it? Perhaps Bunso did it and was guilty. But why couldn't we at least hear what happened and why? And prove to us beyond reasonable doubt that he did it. There will always be a lesson to be learned in crimes. I feel truly sorry for everyone widowed and orphaned by the victims of the crimes that these suspects got themselves into. But I feel more for the the wrongdoers. The widows and windowers and orphans only lost their loved ones a little earlier, but Bunso and Jesse must have already lost their soul forever. With nary a chance of regaining it.

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