Above the law?

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Two recent events have emphasized the culture of impunity that is being enjoyed by people in this country who for some reason or another, feel that they are above the law.

The first involved a traffic altercation that ended in the death of the son of a Malacañang official. The suspect in this case is a man who had already been arrested for killing another Malacañang official in a traffic accident way back in 2004. Jason Ivler, a fugitive who jumped bail on that previous case, is the being tagged as the same man who killed yet again last week. Ivler obviously thinks that because he was able to avoid punishment and roam freely so easily, he is above the law.

The second is the massacre in Maguindano where 52 bodies of women, journalists, and unarmed civilians have been recovered from a killing field after armed men waylaid their convoy and everyone in the party was annihilated. Anybody who was involved in that gruesome mass murder surely must have believed that they were absolutely above the law. After initial investigation by the police, they have confirmed what the whole nation has already deduced by naming a powerful political ally of President Arroyo as the prime suspect in the massacre. The suspect is Andal Ampatuan Jr., the mayor of Datu Unsay, a member of Arroyo's ruling Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrats coalition, the son of an extremely powerful regional politician who has delivered crucial votes for the ruling party during recent elections, and is being groomed to replace his father who had been running for office unopposed until the Mangudadatu clan, whose members were killed in the massacre, had proclaimed their intention to challenge in the coming elections.

Nobody is supposed to be above the law and yet these recent events tell us that there are people who obviously think they are. If the government cannot capture, prosecute and punish these people for their heinous crimes then more and more people will continue to test the resolve of the government when it comes to enforcing the law of the land.

An old saying goes: “The law applies to all, otherwise none at all”. After the past few days, we will be all waiting with bated breath to see if the law does apply at all in this part of the world.*