NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/10 October) — Something is wrong
When a whiff of corruption prompts thunderous lightning fast punitive action while a hurricane of corruption generates nothing but the sound of silence;
When the movement of tons and tons of shabu worth billions of pesos escaped notice and pursuit and was spared from the ire of the fearsome corruption crusader while the transfer of tiny sachet grams of the drugs from one dirty hand to another receive encouragement for prompt killing rampage in the streets;
When the big guns in the illegal drug trade remain scot-free while small pushers and poor users are, without qualms, forever silenced by trigger-happy cops or by untouchable vigilantes;
When Martial Law was imposed in the whole of Mindanao whereas its main reason or justification is simply the terror siege in Marawi;
When in stamping out the terror in Marawi, the method employed is hammering to death a scorpion that crawls on the head of its potential victim;
When instead of welcoming the ombudsman probe, a grand opportunity to clear himself from the “baseless” accusation of his staunchest critic anent alleged hidden wealth, the man who is always on top of situations panics, rages and rants and scampers away from it;
When instead of protecting, the President of the land is now training his wrath at scuttling constitutionally established institutions perceived to be antagonistic to his purpose and ways;
When the protectors of the peace have become the harbinger of fear, strife and unpeace;
When vulgarity, irreverence and profanity have replaced decency, civility and respect as new norms of Philippine society;
When popularity is equated to correctness;
When those who are expected to reason, succumb to rages or emotional outbursts and unreason in defending what they believe;
When those who claim to be the followers of Christ –the great teacher of life, love, compassion, humility and forgiveness — endorse and pride on the death of the poor and the unlovable, and become the arrogant purveyor of intolerance, hate and vengeance; and
When hope is smothered by desperation; trust by paranoia, and calm by panic and aggression.
Something is wrong.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental)
