Value of human life now at zero
Life is a gift from God and must be treasured. But in the Philippines today, even though how many lives are being weighed in any weighing instrument, the arrow is still stuck at zero.
The killings showed how this gift was being ignored and how humans tend to forget that life was from God, and only God could get this great gift to humans. No matter how huge the mistake of one person, no one has the right to stop that person from asking forgiveness and from chances of reformation.
But how can the citizens of this country be reminded of life’s importance if the person leading the killings was the president? It is saddening that even Rodrigo Duterte—the 16th president of the Republic of the Philippines—leads this ignorance.
In his speech to the Filipino community in Da Nang, Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit on Nov. 9, he boasted how he killed a person at his age of 16.
“At the age of 16, may pinatay na ako. Tao talaga. Ramble. Saksak. […] Nagkatinginan lang. Lalo na ngayon presidente [na ako]?” he said.
Humans must be the one who should initiate to value life. Humans must be the one who should condemn unlawful killings and not the one who applaud and support these wrongdoings.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) just ended a period of mourning and prayers for the victims of extrajudicial killings under the government’s “war on drugs” and initiated another period on Nov. 5, the “national healing.”
Outgoing CBCP president, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas called to end the killings during the “Lord Heal Our Land Sunday.” He emphasized that people must repent from sins and start the healing and reformation.
“Kapag hindi natin itinigil ang patayan, may sumpang parusa ang bayang pumapatay sa sariling kababayan. Stopping the killings is only one big step. The journey of healing for the values of our nation turned upside down will be a long journey still,” he said.
The Catholic Church is now calling on Filipinos to support the movement to end the killings. But it is saddening that those who should support this movement were supporting the ignorance lead by the president of this country.
God can forgive, so why can’t people do it? A drug user and criminal are also persons. Everyone is given the gift of life. Criminals sin, but it is never too late for them to change, to repent, and to start anew. No one has the right to get these chances from them, even if you are the president of a country.
The gift of life was so precious and should be immeasurable. No one has the right to measure a human life and end it. Filipinos should wake up and join the movement to end these “merciless and senseless” killings. The evil ones could not only be the criminals and drug users, they could also be the people who look at the value of life as number zero.