I have previously written about the legal ramifications of libel on the internet, which can be read here and here.

The Unlawyer has also written a lucid overview on the nature of libel as it relates to the Pangandaman-De la Paz feud. Likewise, the Cebu Daily News previously carried a comprehensive two-part article on libel, it nature, remedies and venue by Judge Gabriel T. Ingles, which can be accessed here and here.

The legal aspects of libel having been covered extensively elsewhere, I need not repeat them here. But to address the question posed by some bloggers on whether there is possibility that they can be sued for libel for something posted online, the answer is yes. There is always the chance that they might publish something (blogging is a form of electronic publication) which will offend some person or institution for which they will be hailed to court.

Will such a complaint prosper ? It depends on the circumstances and whether the elements of libel, i.e (a) it must be defamatory; (b) it must be malicious; (c) it must be given publicity; and (d) the victim must be identifiable, can be duly shown, even prima facie.

As regards the Pangandaman complaint against Bambee, De la Paz lawyer Archie Fortun (he of the bizarre coup plot involving Bono Adaza) has been quoted as saying: “It’s not a big deal. It’s not an unexpected move by the Pangandamans because they have been threatening to file such case two days after the mauling incident.” He also believes that “after weighing the evidence, the court would eventually dismiss the libel charges“.

Is Fortun implying that the City Prosecutor’s Office of Marawi City is sure to find a prima facie case against Bambee and that there’s little chance of the case being thrown out at the prosecutor’s level ? He appears to be hinting that a hometown decision is in the offing, at least as far as the filing of a criminal information for libel is concerned. And that it would be now up to the Regional Trial Court to resolve the issue, which he believes will be in Bambee’s favor. But how can he be sure that the RTC will likewise not appreciate the case from the Pangandamans’ point of view ? Following his line of reasoning, a hometown decision might also be likely at the trial court level.

Which brings us to the crux of the matter. The libel case, as Fortun himself indicates, is meant as leverage against Bambee and her family in ongoing negotiations for an amicable settlement. This is just one more chip which the Pangandamans will bring to the table later on.

Even so, the libel complaint is something not to be taken lightly, even assuming that Bambee need not be present herself and can be represented by counsel. A consideration is the huge hassle of litigating in Marawi City for a lawyer based in Manila. One has to fly to Iligan City first, then drive up to Marawi. From anecdotes I’ve heard over the years, a lot of unpleasant things can happen while traveling between the two cities. Unless the De la Paz family can hire a local attorney, although I doubt if anyone in Marawi will be willing to take up the cudgels for the respondent.

Another is the possibility that if the libel case is filed in court, there might be an alias warrant of arrest issued for Bambee, since she will most likely not be around during the scheduled arraignment to personally enter her plea (guilty or not guilty) as she is studying in the U.S. Once she returns, however, the warrant of arrest can be served against her and she will have to appear before the court and post bail. This is a tricky matter, since for Bambee going to Marawi will be like entering the lion’s den.

But there are remedies available to the respondent. The strategy for the defense will most likely involve filing a petition for review of the local prosecutor’s resolution with the Department of Justice and moving for the suspension of arraignment. Should the case still proceed, a motion to quash (extinguish) the complaint may be filed before the court. This may delay the proceedings long enough for the parties to settle. Which, from all indications, is where this entire affair is headed, eventually.

As far as I’m aware, this is the first libel case involving blogging filed in the Philippines. From the perspective of jurisprudence, it would be nice to have a definitive Supreme Court ruling on
libel on the internet. But it looks as if it will not get that far.

Here’s an interesting article on defamation on the internet and the risks of getting sued in distant locations.

PBA095558818
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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

The encounter marked for the first time the clash between the denizens of blogdom inhabited by users of Cyberspace and the official holders of power in the formal structures of government. The golf club encounter unveiled the constituency of this new and powerful force in public opinion which was mobilized to join the fray by a blog report written by De la Paz’s daughter, Bambee, 18, who narrated the details of the assault. The report became the basis of the criminal complaint lodged by the De la Paz family ahead of the counter-complaints also alleging physical injuries and child abuse on the part of the family victimized by the Pangandamans. The counter-suit lodged by the Pangandamans, which came within hours of the complaint filed by the De la Paz family, was reduced to copycat versions after Bambee jumped the gun on the use of new technology and stole the initiative from the Pangandamans, whose experience in counter-suits has been defined by the nomenclature of old politics which favors people holding power.

Eventually, after some foot-dragging the Department of Justice will announce the results of its investigation, but already a new people power movement, lodged in the Internet, has emerged and has intervened forcefully to seize the public opinion initiative. It has drawn people to take sides on behalf of the victims of injustice and the abuse of power by persons in authority. Within minutes of Bambee’s blog report the vast undercurrent of blog users came to the surface to add their own versions and knowledge of the Valley Golf Club incident, reinforcing the initial report of the De la Paz family. The bloggers’ perception invested credence to the victims’ narrative, even as the Pangandamans rely on the outmoded justice department’s fact-finding process for vindication. But the Department of Justice happens to be one of the least credible and most partisan departments of this administration.

What the Pangandamans and the administration failed to appreciate is that the reason the Valley Golf incident has caught fire rapidly is that it was ignited by an outrage over injustice by people in authority using their power and violence to trample down powerless people who dare protest infractions of the rules. The blog of the De la Paz girl tapped this undercurrent against abuse of power and injustice dealt to the underdogs.

Nielsen Media Research estimates point to some 200,000 local bloggers to date, from just 40,000 in 2007, amplified by the popularity of social networking sites. That’s a lot of presumably informed people whose collective passions can be harnessed, for good or ill, to further a social or political cause. In the case of the Pangandamans, there was a spontaneous groundswell against what was perceived to be a blatant display of abuse of power and warlord mentality.

The internet has broadened the world’s democratic space and has forever changed the way we interact with our environment and with each other. As I have said before, the challenge for bloggers is how to use this empowering medium responsibly, with due regard for the truth and genuine concern for others. Like it or not, blogging has become a powerful social phenomenon to be reckoned with.
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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

Images from Komiklopedia

L’ affaire Pangandaman, ten days after the incident at Valley Golf, refuses to leave the front pages. The Inquirer carries an item on page one in which Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman appeals to the public, particularly bloggers, “to stop vilifying his family” and says that he is “hurting“. He states that “the past few days have been very painful” to his family and allegedly refers to bloggers who have posted angry comments against them as the specific source of their distress. This is no doubt true, up to point. That the blogosphere played a key role in bringing the narratives of the parties to public awareness can hardly be disputed. But Secretary Pangandaman gives too much credit to the bloggers in explaining why the issue refuses to abate.

Even persons who have never heard of blogs and wouldn’t know a blogger from an illegal logger have been kept well informed of the incident and its developments, via the traditional media. Why so ? Apart from the fact that the story of the golf course fracas is compelling in itself and therefore newsworthy, there may be social and cultural factors which influence why such a relatively minor episode has grabbed a lot of attention. The factual and legal aspects of the incident are already the topic of much debate, pro and con against either party, and need not be discussed here. Just a few observations, though, on context in which the controversy rages.

The middle-class outrage over the Pangandamans’ alleged bullying of the De la Paz family has been expounded upon in other articles and blog posts and needs no repeating here. But it may be pointed out that the image we have of the abusive politician is a Philippine cultural icon. The “abusado” local political boss, government official or warlord, and his twin, the cruel landlord, is a stock character , and has been so for many decades, in countless Philippine komiks and movies. These are the bad guys who inevitably get their comeuppance at the hands of FPJ, Ramon Revilla, Sr., et. al. Respected actors like Eddie Garcia, Subas Herrero and others have made a good living playing this role, in one incarnation or another, for their entire careers.

Image from Komiklopedia

The same character is a staple in Filipino comics, at least during the Golden Age of komiks (from the 1950’s to the late 60’s up to the early 70’s before Martial Law, according to comic book writer and artist Gerry Alanguilan). Even before that there was already a clear representation in the public mind of the abusive politician, and how he would behave. The Free Press cartoon from the 1920’s reproduced by Manolo Quezon in his recent post “Impunity” illustrates (pun intended) my point nicely.

Thus, it must have been a shock to many Filipinos, weaned, consciously or not, on FPJ movies and Mars Ravelo stories and later, Carlo J. Caparas, to find that such people actually exist in the flesh. From the published accounts, the Pangandamans behaved in a way that seemed to almost parody the popular idea of the arrogant politico. Even up to the bad dialogue. “Hindi mo ba ko kilala ?” and so forth. Hence, the outcry.

So the Pangandamans are not up against the bloggers, as they seem to believe, but a cultural conception that has been with us for decades, if not centuries. That’s a tough nut to crack.

Furthermore, the Pangandamans lost the war for public sympathy from the onset, the circumstances of the event being what it is. Setting aside the question of who gave provocation, it’s clear from the versions of both sides that the De la Paz family were at the losing end of the encounter. There was the father, no spring chicken, and his 14-year old son and college-age daughter, against able-bodied young men, powerful and influential people at that, and their armed bodyguards. Who’s being bullied here ? Pinoys will always sympathize with the underdog.

And if the rumors are to be believed, the Pangandaman camp have little idea of how the blogosphere operates. They have allegedly tried to find out and “profile” the persons behind the blogs attacking them to find ways to counteract such efforts. If true, then they betray a total lack of understanding of the viral nature of the beast. It’s not the individual blogs that dictate the agenda (not that there is even one) of the blogosphere but the medium itself: the immediacy and rapid dissemination of news and opinion among community members numbering in the tens of thousands. Issues take on a life of their own in the internet, by reason of the sheer momentum generated by information speedily passing from one person to another through blogs, social networking sites and the like. The only way to deal with it is on its own terms, by battling it out in the democratic space provided by the internet.

Moreover, the blogosphere is not a universe unto itself. Bloggers are, like it or not, part of the world at large. They are not immune from political and societal forces and will not be restrained from, at the very least, commenting on the issues of the day. They simply won’t keep quiet and anyone who tries to make them shut up would be like King Canute commanding the tides of the sea to roll back.

Finally, there are other weighty issues against Secretary Pangandaman, related to his performance as DAR chief, which by themselves would have guaranteed that he remains a controversial public figure. The golf brawl merely added fuel to an already raging fire.

Although, who knows, maybe the controversy will die down after the long holiday season is over and people return to their normal routines. It was just the Pangandamans’ ill luck that the incident happened almost at the beginning of the Christmas season when people had a lot of time on their hands and were online and the usual national issues were at the back burner.

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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

However…

Gloria is still around.

The peso continues to depreciate against the dollar, in spite of the spike in OFW remittances during the Christmas season, although the exchange rate breached the P50.00-US$1 line only for a short while, and immediately recovered.

The price of food and other basic commodities continue to increase, despite the drop in energy costs, a major input in production and transport. Oil has fallen to new price lows, but not before the oil companies, particularly the big three, Shell, Caltex and Petron, made a killing (and continue to do so). They are quick to raise prices but take their sweet time adjusting it downward when the market corrects. This mentality of greed affects all other sectors (like food producers and retailers) as well. Hopefully, prices will stabilize after the mad consumption of the holidays.

The crime rate continues to rise. As does the brutality level of the atrocities committed against persons and property, not only by criminals but by those expected to uphold the law and protect the populace. No need to expound on this, as anyone who reads the papers or listens to the news, even intermittently, knows it.

The only prediction I feel happy calling correctly is that Manny Pacquio would kick another opponent’s butt before the end of the year. And I thought it would be Edwin Valero or Ricky Hatton, but it turned out to be Oscar De La Hoya. Doubly pleased, as he bagged a biggie in the Golden Boy.

And now here is my fearless (not really, as some are obvious given the current environment) forecast for the first half of 2009:

1. The global financial crisis will hit hard in the first two quarters of 2009 – Everybody says so. The E.U. and the U.S. are in recession and China, India and Japan will hit the doldrums soon, if they haven’t already, leaving the rest of us in the economic dumps. Finance Secretary Margarito Teves explained “There’s a time lag in terms of the impact of a global economic slowdown. The time lag will affect Asia by next year more than this year“. Per Teves, when the crunch hits home, the effects could come in the form of a slowdown in business activity and slower export growth. Not to mention loss of jobs, inflation and other attendant ills of a contracting economy.

2. The crime rate will go up even further – Due to number one above.

3. OFW remittances will slow down – Like I said before, the host economies of Filipinos abroad are also facing hard times and employment opportunities will be affected. Lay-offs will be inevitable. But technically-proficient OFWs will continue to be in demand. It’s the non-skilled workers who will feel the brunt of the slowdown in hiring.

4. The peso will continue to depreciate against the dollar - The peso, which has fallen 13 percent against the dollar this year, will decline further in 2009 due to the impact a worsening global economic downturn will have on foreign investments, exports and overseas remittances. A no-brainer, as an anemic economy will naturally result in a weak peso. Not entirely a bad thing, as our exports will become more attractive to outside buyers. Also, the monetary value of OFW remittances will appreciate.

5. Scientology will debut in the Philippines.

6. The Philippine blogosphere will continue to be play a prominent role in unfolding events -No one can deny the growing popularity and influence of blogs as a source of information and opinion. The Philippine blogging community will continue to expand and will leave a larger (and hopefully positive) imprint in our political, social and professional lives. Why so ? Simply because no blogger is an island, and as a community, its natural impetus is to grow. And flex its muscles.

7. Pacquiao will kick Ricky Hatton’s ass and will then launch his own fight promotions company – The Pacquiao-Hatton fight promises to be another classic, this time between two evenly matched brawlers. Pacquiao will prevail and can seriously start considering retirement after another 1 to 2 farewell bouts. But not before setting up his own promotions enterprise. Manny’s no fool and has seen that the long-term money is in matchmaking. Why not take another page out Oscar De La Hoya’s playbook ? Why do you think he went to all the trouble and expense of bringing Mexican boxers David Diaz and Edwin Valero to Gen San for his birthday bash ? He needs marquee fighters on his side and is laying the foundation of an even bigger empire if he succeeds. Bob Arum must be worried to death that his main man is about to go his own way.

May we all have a serene and joyous New Year’s Eve and a bountiful 2009.

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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

But aside from individual satisfaction, we also blog to find a sense of community.

But writing in this new form is a collective enterprise as much as it is an individual one—and the connections between bloggers are as important as the content on the blogs.

A successful blog therefore has to balance itself between a writer’s own take on the world and others.

In this sense, blogging is both a selfish and selfless undertaking. Although we might think that we blog for ourselves, it is really the sharing and interaction with others that gives this activity meaning. No blogger is an island.
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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

Photo from travelchannel.com

Anthony Bourdain of “No Reservations” fame was in Manila to film his show and I wasn’t even aware of it until weeks after he left. My wife knew, but didn’t say a word, not knowing or caring who Mr. Bourdain was.

As always, I found out first from the blogs, notably marketmanila.com and food-stylingmanila.com. I was on the verge of tears and dying of envy of everyone who had a chance to interact with the Great Bourdain. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of the show and when I got a copy of “No Reservations” the book, around this time last year, and saw that he had never been to the Philippines, I knew that it was only a matter of time before he landed on our fair shores and sampled our unique cuisine.

Well it happened, and he and his crew went in and out the country like ninjas, stealthily but effectively. They had no choice, I suppose, as the resulting media frenzy would have kept him from sampling the authentic grub which was their real objective. And they did their homework, zeroing in on the authoritative people who could give them a broad sampling of honest Filipino cooking at its best during their short stay. Guys like Market Man, Claude Tayag and Gene Gonzales.

Bourdain is the first to admit that he’s a fair to middling chef, with “no hopes of attaining the peaks of Culinary Olympus ” (his words, from Kitchen Confidential). But as a raconteur, he’s nonpareil. And he has the greatest job in the world, being paid to travel and eat. Who wouldn’t want to be Anthony Bourdain ? (Or at least have as sweet a gig)

He was rightfully dismissive of balut, calling it “so last week”. But he appears to have enjoyed all the other dishes brought his way, and this will undoubtedly be a classic segment no one will want to miss.

The next best thing to being there is reading about it in the blogs of Market Man and Anton Diaz.

And here’s the video made by Augusto from Long Island, New York entitled “Philippines: Manila & Cebu” — one of the finalists for the Bourdain FAN-atic contest, with its mouthwatering visuals which enticed Bourdain to come to the country. And he might yet return, since I heard he and his family are thinking of settling down in neighboring Vietnam.
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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

Despite technical glitches and other missteps common to events of this nature, a good time was had by all. Or so it appeared to me. I had a great time just people-watching and marveling at the variety of creatures who call themselves bloggers.

Congratulations to the winners and kudos to the organizers.

There will be detractors, of course, who will find fault in many aspects of the awards and the occasion itself. Much as Filipinos revel in awards-giving, an undertaking such as this would not be complete without one controversy or another to spice up post-event discussions.

The sight of so many bloggers all at one place got me thinking about whether bloggers can be a force for social change. A grandiose idea for now, I know, but it’s gradually happening, without our even being aware of it.

A timely article in BusinessWorld sheds light on the numbers involved.

Internet penetration in the Philippines is relatively small but experts note that those who have web access are those who have the spending power.

Nielsen Media Research estimates point to some 200,000 local bloggers to date, from just 40,000 in 2007, amplified by the popularity of some local networking sites where pages can be created quickly complete with photos, videos, and instant reactions.

The number of local internet users is expected to rise to 24 million this year from 14 million in 2006 and only two million in 2000, with access and personal computers becoming cheaper and more accessible.

Thus, the article points out, bloggers play a significant role as far as consumer protection is concerned, making businesses more aware of a potential blogger backlash for rendering poor service or selling shoddy or defective goods. Globally, people now tend to rely more on the internet than on television and radio advertising, according to U.S.-based Forrester Research, Inc.

“Customers are writing about your products on blogs and recutting your commercials on YouTube. They’re defining you in Wikipedia and ganging up on you in social networking sites like Facebook. These are all elements of a social phenomenon- that has created a permanent long-lasting shift in the way the world works.” say co-authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technology“.

All these point to the growing role of bloggers as shapers of public opinion.

But not everyone is enamored of the free-wheeling blogosphere. Andrew Keen, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, cultural critic and author of the book , “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture” , laments the harm caused by the self-authored content of the internet for having brought about “an endless digital forest of mediocrity”.

If we keep up this pace, there will be over five hundred million blogs by 2010, collectively corrupting and confusing popular opinion about everything from politics, to commerce, to arts and culture. Blogs have become so dizzyingly infinite, that they’ve undermined our sense of what is true and what is false, what is real and what is imaginary. These days, kids can’t tell the difference between credible news by objective professional journalists and what they read on joeshmoe.blogspot.com.

But even Keen has to concede that the internet has broadened the world’s democratic space. The challenge for us is how to use this empowering medium responsibly, with due regard for the truth and genuine concern for others. Like it or not, blogging has become a potent social phenomenon to be reckoned with.

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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

All bloggers are invited to attend and traipse down the red carpet in their show-stopping finery. Or better yet, just come as you are. All will be welcome, regardless of gender, age, creed or political persuasion (or lack thereof). It’ll be a blast. Registration starts at 5:00 p.m. and the awarding ceremonies start at exactly 6:00 p.m. Prizes and surprises await you, with a party afterwards. So get there early.

Filipino Voices is a forum for bloggers and sundry interested and interesting netizens to examine, discuss and debate on the topics of the day and share their views and ideas on current events, politics, society, law, public policy and life in general.

It allows us to dissect , attack, make fun of and praise our social, political and economic institutions and , occasionally, each other.

This collective blog is the brainchild of Nick of tingog.com, and gets my vote for this year’s Bloggers’ Choice award.

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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets—reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link.

I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon.

I have the same problem and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I haven’t read a book in its entirety in ages, even though I keep buying them. I have piles of books at my bedside table which, when I got them, I knew I would devour in one reading. Months, even years after, I haven’t gone beyond a few chapters, at best. I stop and start and finally give up at some point, distracted by the flickering text and images on my monitor.

No doubt, the internet has turbo-charged the information revolution. We are all grateful for the way it has made masses of material available on every conceivable subject. It has democratized access to data and empowered millions, as a medium for reaching the world at large and self-expression. But being plugged-in has a price. The Law of Unintended Consequences at work.

The internet has altered our cognitive processes. For one thing our attention span has shortened dramatically. According to a BBC item, the addictive nature of web browsing can leave you with an attention span of nine seconds – the same as a goldfish. This isn’t much of an exaggeration.

“Our attention span gets affected by the way we do things,” says Ted Selker, an expert in the online equivalent of body language at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

“If we spend our time flitting from one thing to another on the web, we can get into a habit of not concentrating,” he told the BBC programme Go Digital.

The sheer volume of available info has also forced us to skim over all the material coming our way, and trained us to go for efficiency and wider coverage, at the expense of depth of understanding. We bounce from one site to another, never fully comprehending what we are reading before we move on to next hyperlinked article or video clip.

I miss the times when I could lose myself in a book. What to do ?

Jessica Zafra has a simple solution. She takes time off from the digital age – one whole day without cellphone, email, internet, text, nothing – to read an old-fashioned printed book.

I think this is an excellent idea. I have to relearn how to read deeply and with a meaningful grasp of what it is I’m staring at. To read with knowing.

Now, if I can only summon the will to shut down my P.C.

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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?

But having already made a post on it some days ago, and seeing the response of so many readers, I feel compelled to close the loop on my analysis of the tragic incident and its aftermath.

The brutal inhumanity of the killings have been reported extensively in traditional media and the blogsphere , and there’s no need to repeat the details here. However, recent events related to the incident require closer examination.

First, the handling by the police of the investigation. In their usual ham-fisted way, the initial responding team broke into the RCBC Cabuyao, Laguna branch, and started trampling around the scene of the crime. Understandable, as there was the urgency of saving any survivors. But was there a systematic attempt to gather and preserve evidence critical to the investigation ? I don’t know. But it appears, from news reports and pictures of the incident which have been circulating on the internet, that even the police were taken aback by the mayhem and violence of the killings. I hope the Philippine National Police (PNP) Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) people were cool and level-headed enough to have collected, in a scientific and methodical way, all the possible physical evidence which could lead to the killers. There were certainly plenty of pictures taken, some of which found its way online, but more on this later.

President Arroyo was furious, and in her usual theatrical manner, ordered the PNP to go after the perpetrators pronto. So Task Force RCBC was formed , headed by one Sr. Supt. Aaron Fidel, composed of investigators from the Regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Regional Crime Laboratory, Traffic Management Group, Laguna Police Provincial Office and Civil Security Group. Every conceivable group is represented here, and therein lies the problem. Each unit has its own leadership, operatives, organizational structure and way of doing things. It would take an exceptional leader to whip such a diverse bunch into a cohesive team. We wish Sr. Supt. Fidel all the luck.

Task Force RCBC lost no time in going after the criminals. But whether these were the right criminals is still unclear. PNP Director General Avelino Razon Jr. emphasized that he did not issue a shoot-to-kill order against the robbers . Nevertheless, the Task Force promptly gunned down the first four suspects they encountered. So much for following orders.

Suspects Pepito Magsino, Vivencio Javier, Angelito Malabanan and Rolly Lachica–all residents of Tanauan, Batangas, allegedly shot it out with the cops and were killed. But Senior Supt. David Quimio, Batangas police director, was later quoted in a radio interview with Ted Failon of DZMM as saying that there has been no confirmation as yet if the four men were in any way involved in the RCBC robbery. The cops’ logic seems to be: They were suspects, so they had to die.

This raises obvious and troubling questions. Was it in fact a rubout, as the relatives of the four slain men claim ? Why were the task force members so trigger-happy ? Who were these guys, that the police were so eager to kill them ?

All these unanswered queries lend credence to speculation that members of the PNP or at least “men in uniform” , whether in active service or not, were involved in the RCBC robbery itself. In fact, a statement to this effect was made by the PNP leadership early on. This may be the reason why they were so eager to silence their supposed cohorts. For purposes of the investigation, these guys were clearly more valuable alive than dead, at least until the murders are solved. But Task Force RCBC summarily dead-ended that road.

The official PNP statement says that the four men killed were really members of a notorious kidnap and robbery-holdup group in Southern Tagalog. Granted that this may be true, and the rumor is that the police are using the RCBC massacre as an excuse to go after existing criminal syndicates in the area, this doesn’t bring us any closer to apprehending the Cabuyao killers.

Whichever way one looks at it, the PNP comes out looking bad. The police are either involved in the crime itself and are now trying to cover it up or are so inept as to not know who they should be going after. This does not auger well for the progress of the investigation.

Next, the question on a lot of people’s minds is why the crime was vicious in the extreme. The obvious answer seems to be that the robbers wanted no witnesses. But the diabolical, execution-style killings upped the ante on the lengths criminals are willing to go to escape prosecution. They will kill with impunity and without remorse.

But what could push them to such inhuman ferociousness ? Poverty is often cited as a factor. But that’s only part of the story. The Philippines literally has millions of people living in destitution, but they don’t turn into mass murderers. Otherwise, we’d all be dead.

I think Conrad De Quiros was correct when he wrote that the execution of the RCBC bank employees should be seen in the context of the widespread violence being perpetrated by the present administration all over the country. He asks:

But if that is so, how can you seethe with rage over the systematic execution of the Laguna bank employees and not burn with greater fury at the methodical execution of political activists and journalists? How can you cry out for unsheathing the sword of vengeance or retribution, whichever comes first or more handily, at the authors of the Laguna massacre and not shout for unleashing the Furies or letting fall the hand of justice, whichever comes last or more forcefully, at the perpetrators of the nationwide slaughter? For while fuming at the atrocity in Laguna, (Justice Secretary) Gonzalez has been laughing at the obscenity in the country for several years now. While being furious at the cold-blooded execution of the hostages in a bank, Gonzalez has been facetious over the cold-blooded “salvaging” of abductees by cops and soldiers.

You can understand how in the heat of battle, crazed soldiers might commit a savage act, wreaking a massacre upon a village. You cannot understand how in the quiet of peace, or in the tomb of cities and in the dead of day, government can commit a barbaric act, wreaking wholesale slaughter upon some of the country’s best and brightest. That’s what the journalists and political activists are, the latter often in the flush of youth–they are some of the country’s best and brightest. The first for all its senselessness retains some sense; the second for all its justification is unforgivable.

If you can get mad at what happened to the hostages in Laguna, you have to get madder at what has been happening to the activists and journalists who are hostage to government’s policy of keeping “killing fields.”

If you can get mad at the pitilessness with which the bank robbers in Laguna shot their hostages in the head, you have to get madder at the mercilessness with which cops and soldiers seize union officials and strike leaders, often from the embrace of their wives and children, and make them reappear with bullet wounds in their heads. The latter is no less savage and barbaric because the murder was not seen, or because the bodies materialized only later in a state of decomposition.

Indeed, why would the RCBC robbers have any compunction about killing when the first to break the laws of God and man are those sworn to uphold them in the first place ?

To take Mr. De Quiros’ argument further , it’s not just a question of state violence, but also of unbridled corruption that goes all the way to the top. Why should the Cabuyao killers not steal millions at gunpoint when our national leaders routinely steal twenty, fifty, a hundred times over with the stroke of a pen, after a few secret meetings ?

The Arroyo government has engendered an environment of lawlessness and a sense of moral drift. Nobody gets punished anyway for crimes which may not as be as violent on the surface but are equally heinous, committed as they are against the entire Filipino nation. Who knows how many lives have been lost, among the poor and defenseless, owing to lack of food, medicine or fundamental health care because the funds for these basic needs found their way to the pockets of those in power ? It’s not surprising that social nihilism has gained a foothold in the country and that crimes like the Cabuyao massacre, or the pitiless violence which characterized it, are now commonplace.

I fear that the RCBC robbery has now become the template for future acts of a like nature. Almost surely, we’ll be seeing more bank robberies in the near future, simply because, as bank robber Willie Sutton supposedly answered when asked why he robbed banks, “that’s where the money is”.

A final note on the gruesome photographs of the RCBC murder victims now circulating on the internet. They could only have been taken by police investigators at the crime scene and it’s reasonable to assume that someone in authority deliberately leaked them. I’m of two minds about it. It would certainly be painful for the victims’ families to have their loved ones’ grisly deaths exhibited in so public a manner. A valid argument for desecration of the dead can also be made. At the same time, the graphic and compelling nature of the images ensures that the crime will not easily be forgotten. Viewing it brings about an almost uncontrollable gut-feeling of deep anger and moral outrage. Owing to its viral nature, it has also reached far more people than what would normally be possible through news reports alone. Maybe it’s just what we need to spur us into action to battle these and other, more insidious, forms of evil so prevalent in Philippine society. No sane person can be neutral about it after seeing the pictures. As a the old adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Police claim to have identified five suspects, including two uniformed personnel, in the murders of 10 people during the bloody robbery in Cabuyao, Laguna, on May 16.

Senior Superintendent Aaron Fidel, head of RCBC Taskforce and deputy regional director for operation in Calabarzon, said in an interview that based on the accounts of six witnesses, they were able to identify the real names, backgrounds, affiliations, and the last known addresses of five suspects while four others were only identified through their aliases.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said that initial findings indicated that three men police claim were suspected members of a crime gang were summarily executed, not killed in a shootout.

It appears the inside-job angle was correct, as two of three arrested suspects in the bloody bank robbery are former security gaurds of RCBC. Charged with robbery with multiple homicide were the bank’s former security guards Joel dela Cruz and Jesus Narvaez, and Ricardo Gomolon, who are currently under the custody of Task Force RCBC.

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Have you read my other popular articles like Libel on the Internet under Philippine Laws (Part 1), Libel on the Internet under Philippine Law (Part 2) or on Freedom of Expression?