WHEN I met the family of Nataniel, I felt getting hit in the gut. They were poor, too poor to grieve the loss of the 14-year-old member of their family. The grandma who took care of the kid was frail, her back humped, perhaps from lack of calcium. The mother looked emaciated and had just been operated on for an appendectomy.
When told that Nataniel’s body needed to be autopsied to ensure they get a strong criminal case against the perpetrators, they said they’d rather not, as they cannot afford to pay P7,000 for the procedure.
It seemed to grieve, for them, could just be a luxury. And justice? It may be something they have thought they cannot afford.
Our criminal justice system has five pillars: 1. Community, 2. Police, 3. Prosecution, 4. Courts, and the 5. Penal system or jails. It is a cyclical process. It starts with the community and ends up in the community from the 2nd to the 5th pillar, depending on the course of a case.
I do admire Mayor Klarex Uy, like a good father, for being humble enough to admit some sort of responsibility for crimes happening in the city. And rightly so, he reminded us ― the community, the katawhan to also take responsibility for ensuring peace and order.
Ghastly crimes captured by smartphones may have given us a vivid glimpse of this senseless violence. In at least three high-profile crimes captured on video, it is absolutely disturbing to see the victims NOT getting any help from onlookers.
Okay to blame our police force, our elected leaders. But come on, can we collectively ask #anyare humans of CDO?
I enter a guilty plea.
