Fragile Peace

LESS than 24 hours after we wrapped up our last week’s issue, wherein we lauded the people of Pangasinan and the absence of election-related violence in the province, shots rang out in San Carlos City and shattered the peace.

San Carlos was in the midst of merrymaking as it was celebrating its fiesta. The festivity that fateful Saturday night was centered at the public auditorium and the place was heaving with townspeople, an indication of the cheer that the city enjoyed. They did, after all, have plenty of reason to celebrate.

San Carlos is not naive to violence. Political rivalry has historically been intense here and the city has always been among the areas of concern for the Commission on Election during voting season. But this year, it seemed that the city was just about ready to enter into a new political phase as its economy and reputation have slowly been seeing improvements in recent years. But alas! It was not to be.

Shortly after the San Carlos shooting – where Mayor Julian Resuello was seriously wounded and eventually succumbed to the gunshot wounds, his bodyguard Eulogio Martinez died on the spot due to multiple gun shot wounds, and seven others, including a policeman and a nine-year old girl, were hurt from the exchange of fire – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called on the military to provide reinforcement to the police in putting a check on the escalating violence.

Now that call from the President is even more daunting than the pre-election violence which has so far claimed about 30 lives nationwide. In the 2004 presidential election, more than 100 people were recorded to have been killed in election-related violence.

It is daunting because the President, whose legal ascendancy to power has not been completely and convincingly cleared of questions of electoral fraud, has been showing signs of an iron-fist rule.  And it seems that with the violence in San Carlos, she has found yet another excuse for the growing militarization of her administration.

Former Senate President Jovito Salonga, one of the most reputable and respected politicians in the country, who has by and large been living a quiet retirement life away from the limelight, was compelled to speak up again and voice his fear that the May 14 elections could prove to be as “violent and fraudulent” as polls during the martial law era under Marcos.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz has also sounded alarm bells.

Dark clouds again loom over the Philippine islands.

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