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On Monday, the 12th of May, militants called for a
transport strike to protest the rising oil prices. Strikes are a
thing of the past: they serve no purpose except to cripple the
strikers themselves and the economy. If at all, it only serves
notice that utilities in this country are higher than the rest of
our neighbors and that regardless of the increases in the minimum
wage, the key measurement is the percentage spent to maintain the
basic necessities.
Two thousand cops were deployed
lest violence erupt. Somewhere in Paco, violence of the gravest kind
did happen. A friend, Alfred Dy, was shot to death in broad daylight
at 10:00 a.m. outside a Banco de Oro bank by robbers on motorcycles.
One shot him while another used a hammer to break the window to get
to the money bag Alfred withdrew that morning. It was not the first
incident.
Previously, Alfred was robbed in
the fashion without the killing. The bank was then known as
Equitable-PCI Bank before being bought by BDO. The modus operandi
was eerie. Alfred was known to withdraw cash on Mondays to pay
suppliers in his industry which runs on cash basis. That the
robbers/killers knew when to strike can only lead to simple
conclusions.
When our organization learned of
his killing, it came as a shock because the last thing he did for us
what to run a legal mission. He organized a group of lawyers to
provide free legal service to people who crave for justice and
fairness.
Alfred was young in his early
30’s. He was soft-spoken and kind for someone in a tough
profession in a strike-torn country. He was cheerful in the midst of
daily trials. He was entrepreneurial with the courage to take
calculated risks. Now, our human capital recorded another deficit in
our march to progress.
We asked that he be a bit more
careful with carrying huge sums of money. A few years ago, we lost
another friend, Johnson, his lovely wife and young kids to a fire
that hit their home. They were trapped and suffocated and burned to
death. Surely, these human tragedies can be avoided?
An inspiring twist was the heroic
response of two policemen. One of whom was off-duty when he heard
the gunshots. They initially did not fire at the killers because of
the crowd. They returned fire only when they were shot at which is
probably why they lost their lives. They lost the element of
surprise and sacrificed themselves for the faceless, nameless crowd.
We continue to look down and insult our men in uniform.
Anything can happen in this crazy
world. Life is short and in our country, it is short for very
different reasons. We live aimlessly until the next tragedy cuts us
down to size. We forget and we continue on. How many times do we
have to face mortality?
Strike at injustice, strike at
violence, strike at senseless death. Serve the community and keep
your head up. Rest in peace, Alfred, light the path for our brothers
in the service of humanity, silently toiling and rolling with the
daily punches of reality. We grieve with your family; we grieve for
your family. We grieve for ourselves.
We commend the policemen who died
in the line of fire outside their official station while many others
shy away from the call of duty even if expressly tasked. As long as
there is one heroic act from a tragedy like this, we have reason to
cheer. From our gray streets and decaying core, heroes can be found.
geronimo.sy@gmail.com
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