"Business-as-usual solutions will no longer suffice."
"Business-as-usual solutions will no longer suffice."
We join the nation in condemning the murder of Ako-Bicol Party-List Rep. Rodel Batocabe. A three-term lawmaker, Batocabe was the president of the 52-member party list coalition entitling him to senior leadership positions in various major committees in the House of Representatives including the powerful House Electoral
Tribunal. He was a jolly and engaging fellow, I had a chance to talk with Rodel before the December break. He was full of ideas about how he can be an instrument in the transformation in his hometown, Daraga, into another city to rival Legazpi, Albay’s capital and the regional center. Or, at the very least, a major component of an expanded, planned metropolitan area like Metro Manila.
This senseless killing now puts his dream on hold unless his townmates rally around Rodel’s banner and move on to make his dream come true. At this point, grief will have to be fully expressed with the outrage which accompanies cold-blooded murders such as this. There is simply no justification for this act and the police must ensure
that no stone is left unturned to get the perpetrators and the mastermind to justice. Let Rodel not become just another statistic in the unsolved section of the police’s blotter. Then and only then, after the pain and heartache shall have at least eased up, his widow and his followers may get going to bring Rodel’s dream to fruition however that takes. We extend our prayers and condolences to the family and his loved ones and hope that somehow they will rise from this tragedy with renewed enthusiasm and vigor to lift Daraga to greater heights and Rodel’s bring many other advocacies to life.
Rodel’s murder which in all likelihood is politically motivated is the latest in a continuing series of senseless political killings in the run up to the May 2019 elections. If these murders do not stop, the May 2019 elections may turn out to be the bloodiest in recent memory. Coming as it did amid President Duterte’s vow to wipe out all traces of “murderous extortion activities of the New People’s Army as well as the continuing killings associated with the war on drugs, it will definitely take a toll in the perception of our people and even the outside world about the peace and order situation in the country. Murders may translate into mayhem which can negatively affect our efforts to get the economy and even the elections on a positive plane. If the perception of safety and well being gets shaken by unabated killings then things can spiral into worse developments beyond control. We should not let that happen at all.
Speaking of mayhem, the recent decision of President Donald Trump to withdraw US troops from Syria and half its level of deployment in Afghanistan without consulting with the military establishment has sent the situation in two of the world’s most turbulent and violent areas into higher gear. The mayhem expected as a result of this development has already sent analysts and military strategists into a tizzy. This shooting-from-the-hip initiative coupled with the regisnation of US Defense Secretary Mattis has definitely put the US and its allies in the war zones of Syria and Afghanistan on the defensive. Nobody knows what Trump is thinking of next. What is definite is that this has scrambled the entire situation on the ground without anybody knowing how things will turn out both in the near term and the long term.
As things stand, the wait-and-see situation has become so unnerving there is every reason to believe that the Middle East and Afghanistan may be nearing expanded conflagration which can engulf the region and the world in a global frenzy which can suck life out of any efforts for peace and stability not just in the war zones but beyond.
There are talks, for example, that even an already decimated Islamic State may rise from its stupor and gain grounds in pursuit of its murderous intiatives. There are also reports that with theese withdrawals the United States has signaled to its people and to the world that it is well on its way to an isolationist posture leaving the peace and stability of the world order as we know it in tatters.
But there is hope. Like with Rodel’s murder, the US withdrawal may just push people and, in the case of the US move, countries to come around together and decide to reengage and ignite a movement towards resolving the many conflicts and concerns which have heretofore been shelved and thrown to the sidelines. As they say in our part of the neighborhood, magpakatotoo—for all of us, world leaders included to be truthful to ourselves and to our people and recognize that business-as-usual solutions may no longer suffice.
And so, amid the turbulence and frenzy, we remain hopeful that things will turn out well as we wish one and all a Merry and Prayerful Christmas.