By Farah G. Decano

 

I recently watched an impassioned call for the return of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (FPRRD) to the Philippines by a mother whose child was raped and killed by a drug addict. To her, illegal drug users do not deserve a day in court and should be summarily executed because, unlike their innocent victims, they preferred to live a life in hell. They sold or used prohibited drugs by choice.  For this grieving mother, only the death of the suspect will serve justice for the senseless abuse and death of her beloved child.

I deeply felt the mother’s extreme anguish as she spoke.  Her pain was evidently unbearable. How could the child she delicately carried in her womb, patiently breastfed night and day, laboriously worked for to provide her daily needs, including education, be snatched from her by these undesirables of society?  The villains did not only extinguish the life of her child but also destroyed the many dreams she had for her.  FPRRD went after these addicts, and now, the  anti-Dutertes are condemning  him for doing what the others could not do which was to deliver speedy justice.

Contrary to how Duterte supporters are normally pictured, this mother was not ignorant nor uneducated.  And she was predictably outraged and desperate for justice.  I could not, for the life of me, blame her.  The gears that move the justice system do turn like the sluggish motorized kuliglig in the farm most of the time. There are even moments when our country’s judicial machinery appears defective, if not non-existent.  And even when cases manage to be filed before the courts, there is an abundance of allowable “motions” that only serve to delay the process.  And then, of course, there are a myriad of many other possible obstacles along the way and these include powerful people who attempt to influence the judge’s decision.

I have no wish to be in that mother’s shoes but if I were, I will likely be inclined to wish a more cruel fate to befall the perpetrators of these ghastly crimes – a suffering that will be slow and shall torture them for the rest of their natural lives.  Oh well, we all have our own bouts with innate wickedness whether we like it or not.   But must we all give in to our instinctive thirst for vendetta whenever we are wronged?

I have read material that claims that it is the animal within us that seeks immediate revenge.  We have all witnessed that whenever animals are hurt or harmed that their initial response is to either flee or to fight.  Those who chose the latter, tended to expose and flex their fangs or incisors immediately before pouncing on their attackers.  That part of the brain that governs responses to fear and pain is called the amygdala.   I read that whenever we are in pain or in fear, our amygdala will signal to us that we should either take off or fight it out.

Unlike animals, however, human beings have a more developed prefrontal cortex, the brain component that governs the higher order of reasoning, planning, and social behavior.  It is the prefrontal cortex that appreciates the value of dignity and philosophy of life.  This makes us different from the members of the animal kingdom.  This is believably where the conscience lies, too.  Because human beings have evolved, this section of the brain must have grown larger compared to our primitive counterparts.

Yes, we cannot help but admit our beastly tendencies albeit with guilt. And FPRRD’s strategies of “Kill, kill, kill,” possibly appealed more to our amygdala because these policies satisfy our instinctual need for reciprocity – an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.

But, humans are not just about their inclinations and desires.  We have our rationality.  It is this higher brain function which leads us to the concepts called law, due process, fairness, and the like.   We should, therefore, consider to ask ourselves which part of the brain influences us more.

This again boils down to our education and development.   Which part of the brain does our education help develop?  With the election of political buffoons in the past decades, I wonder whether the Philippines is experiencing a collective shrinkage of the prefrontal cortex – a reverse evolution.   If only we could get a brain scan of all Filipinos.

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