The reprieve of the execution of migrant worker Mary Jane Veloso after the surrender of her recruiter is a welcome development. This should give unbelievers a lot to chew on regarding their contentions on the efficacy of prayer and the presence of Divine Providence in our lives. I also subscribe that Ms. Veloso’s painful experience is something which we could both learn and grow from as a people. A particular point for introspection is the unyielding political will of President Joko Widodo to implement their criminal laws to the letter, despite the strong international pressure to instead “soften up” and practice clemency.
It has been consistently observed that Filipinos are a highly forgiving lot who easily forget even the most scandalous transgressions made, particularly when such incidents are mere news footages we capture in the media, something beyond our personal experience and does not directly affect us. As a result, I strongly feel that we have become too lax and soft in our duties to exact due penalties not only for such transgressions but more importantly, for criminal acts which have been defined by our laws as heinous or treasonous. At the onset, public outcry might be shown but, as evidenced by numerous cases, with the passage of time, only those directly affected continue to plod on in search of justice while the majority of our citizens go back to their daily routines only to be emotionally charged with the next headline that comes.
Within this context, the stand of the Indonesian government to implement the full force of the law, though considered repugnant and barbaric by opponents of the death penalty, takes on a meritorious light. Seen from this vantage point, we may ask the question: By what right do we insist that Indonesia not follow its laws when we cannot fully enforce our own laws? Perhaps this episode should help remind us, particularly our national leadership, that introspection would have been a better way to prevent circumstances like this where our OFWs end up on the wrong side of the barrel and become helpless victims of criminal syndicates. One reader commented that Ms. Veloso’s plight reflected the poverty and lack of gainful livelihood here in the country and not the growing menace of the illegal drug trade in the country as I had opined. That is true, but equally so and consequentially true is the fact that the growing illegal drug trade and the inutile response of this administration to contain it locally have made our country a haven for these criminals. These have made many of our countrymen more prone to becoming their easy and unwary victims. Hence, the growing number of our OFWs who have been victimized by this metastasizing cancer reflects how strongly rooted the spill over of the global illegal drug trade has become in country during the past years.
Another strong point that I believe that we as a nation must learn from is the wisdom of the death penalty. I am of the opinion that we need to review our stance with regard to the death penalty, even if it is for drug-related offenses only. Let me reiterate that 60 percent to 80 percent of our inmates are inside our prisons because of drug-related offenses.
Most cases of rapes happen due to the illegal use of drugs. The same goes for robbery and homicide cases. Moreover, just imagine the billions of pesos of damages that the drug trade is inflicting on our society and the more immeasurable damages it brings in terms of loss of life, broken relationships, opportunities wasted, and the breakdown of both our societal values and the moral fiber of our youth and future leaders. In the same vein, we are wasting billions of pesos just to inacarcerate and feed these drug and drug-related offenders.
As I have expressed in a recent column, I do not support the death penalty as being the only solution to the drug menace in our country. I am convinced, however, of the fact that its absence has emboldened many local and foreign operators and syndicates to perpetuate and broaden their activities here.
Likewise, I wish to reiterate that although the life of every individual is priceless and valuable, we should never hesitate to choose the ruin of one member of society to deter the ruin of greater number of our citizenry. While it may be true that the death penalty will not be able to completely eradicate this scourge, you cannot argue about its shock value. We definitely need another Lim Seng to strike fear into the hearts of these psychopaths.