When lawmen mauled the hapless Roberto Martinez last December 3, 2008 in a funeral parlor this city, who later was found dead near the Taguanao bridge, there can be no other exhibition of lawlessness worst than this.
We saw Jocjoc Volante brazenly lying before the senators. Every day, simple infractions of throwing garbage in the streets literally litter our city. Taxi drivers in the airport mulct passengers with the “pakyaw” basis in derogation of the rates established by the LTFRB. Even the beating red-lights in a traffic jam is a daily dose for drivers.
This disregard for the law, even how worse, can still be corrected. If there is political will, the violators can be apprehended and meted out the full force of the law.
But when it is lawmen that maul, and by circumstantial evidence, kill a civilian, then there is something terribly wrong with our justice system. Who will now protect the innocent from the criminals if the law enforcers are committing the crime, and do so in a manner so flagrantly and in the presence of so many people?
Roberto Martinez, the record reveals, got the ire of a policeman. He was slapped, and in a retaliation later, he hit the said policeman. He was later on in flight from the irate and pursuing police officers, and he went, ironically, into a funeral parlor where the vigil for the dead was going on. This being a big funeral parlor, there were many persons around presumably weeping for the dead. But they may have as well weep for the state of disorder in the Philippines.
Roberto Martinez, a witness recalled, was finally cornered by their pursuers. He raised his hands in surrender, and pleaded mercy, but bullets were pumped into his knees, causing him to fell into the ground. He was kicked and further mauled and was hauled into a vehicle. His lifeless body was found the following day near the Taguanao bridge, in barangay Indahag, this city.
One may argue that this is not the worst of the state of disorder. These policemen are plain thugs clothed in a policeman’s uniform. They may have joined the police service not on the basis of competence and qualifications, but simply of “padrino” , a system of patronage politics when one gets appointed if he has political backing. The argument may go this way: “This is an exception rather than rule; a case of few rotten tomatoes in a basket.”
Due to what happened, one may scream bloody murder. But wait for the flourish, err the pouring of hot chili in a gaping wound.
Police Director Isagani Genabe of the City, in the initial interviews said that he did not conduct the investigation yet because there has been no formal complaint lodge in his office. Imagine the innards twisting in revulsion to the statement.
The corpus delicti, the body of the crime, has been found. The lifeless body of Roberto Martinez was found, bearing bruises, stab and gunshot wounds. Confronted with the gory details, the police czar has the gall to say that the investigation will commence upon the filing of the formal complaint.
The police as a force is tasked to protect lives and properties, and to enforce the rule of law. When somebody dies of a violent death, there is obviously a criminal out there that should be apprehended. This the police must pursue. When a bomb explodes, the police must go to the site and investigate.
Or should the police wait for an explosion in its precinct or the dead body delivered in its doorsteps, and the police blotter written in blood of the victim, before the investigation may begin?
What happened to Roberto Martinez is a sad footnote in the history of the city. Yes, there have been gruesome crimes already in the past. But these crimes were committed mostly by civilians, and if ever a policeman was involved, he acted alone or in conspiracy with civilians. But this one is the worst. The lawmen conspired, and mauled their victim, in the presence of so many people who were weeping for the dead in the vigil, in the funeral parlor.
Weep we must, for the victim, for the arrogant display of authority, for the lackadaisical attitude of our police czar.
There can be no breakdown of law and order worst than this.
