Viewpoints

By March 4, 2013Archives, Opinion

OV Cruz

By +Oscar V. Cruz, JCD

“HUMAN RIGHTS VICTIMS REPARATION

And

RECOGNITION ACT OF 2013”

Partly just, partly unjust! Somehow right, somehow wrong! Fair in a way, unfair in another way! Kind for some, cruel for others! Selective not inclusive. Partial not equitable. Preferential not equal. Conclusion: Just as what is partly false is not true, so too what is but partly true is false. Why is it so hard for certain key political personalities to be fair and square? Such can be the sad over-all qualitative content and pursuant application of the above cited “Act” – signed with pomp and circumstance, not to mention long declamations and obvious display of political color – on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the “People Power 1.” It can be well said that the “Act” is just that, viz., acting. Why?

It is true that the Martial Law Regime violated human lives, human dignity, and human rights. It is true that the Regime was more a rule of guns instead of reason, more a domination by soldiers than the sovereignty of the citizenry, more to protect the tenure of power than to exercise good governance. Result: Human lives were wasted. Human dignity was trampled upon. Human rights were violated.

But the big, real, and valid question that comes to mind is this: Were human rights violated, human dignity discarded, human lives terminated only and exclusively during the Marcos Martial Law Regime? Was this particular regime the one and only government that killed people, undermined human dignity, disregarded human rights?

What about the infamous “Mendiola Massacre?” People were killed and wounded, manhandled and driven away like sub-human beings. During whose regime did this take place? Are the victims of then government exempted from getting payments for the violation of their human rights?

What about the “Tarlac Murders?” Individuals were likewise killed and wounded, also manhandled and hunted like sub-human persons? During whose governance did this atrocity take place? Are its victims likewise exempted from receiving payments for the violation of human rights?

What about the present regime for the past the years yet to come? Was there not even but a single case of violation of human rights in the past three years or so? Will there be neither but a single case of violation of human rights in the years yet to come? Are then, will they be likewise exempted from payments for such atrocities?

Come on! Be real, will you?

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