On the day they protested against EJKs
On the same day that thousands of Filipinos rallied in the streets to protest, among other things, extrajudicial killings, the life of a young woman who had her whole future ahead of her was savagely snuffed out by a robber who broke into her home, probably for no other reason than to find something of value he needed to get a fix, having been arrested only the month before in possession of illegal drugs.
While nobody in his right mind would endorse the perpetuation of extrajudicial killings, the vicious attack on Maxi Bolongaita by a known drug user or pusher is yet one more reason why there should be no let-up in the government's aggressive war on illegal drugs. Filipinos cannot forever remain naive or oblivious to the reality that in a drug-infested environment, everything eventually boils down to a choice between your life or that of a drug-crazed personality.
Maxi was an enemy to no one, least of all the junkies out there who she probably stayed clear of by a wide latitude. She was busy making a life of her own and was shuffling between jobs as a part-time disc jockey and call center agent in order to save up for her future. She was of good breeding and was a product of a private and exclusive Catholic girls' school.
In other words, she was well on her way to becoming a productive citizen. The world had no reason to take her life away so early. But unfortunately, that world also harbors drug-crazed individuals who prey on the unsuspecting and the innocent and make them pay, often violently, for their own right to live their unproductive, useless, and troublesome criminal lives.
Maxi is not the only victim of these twisted savages but is just the latest in the growing list of names that, quite unbelievably, often get shoved aside in the rush of certain people to take up the cudgels for those killed in the government's war on illegal drugs. It is truly remarkable how protesters seem to remember the names of those killed in the drug war and forget about those they themselves killed in the most horrible and senseless manner.
Well, here is one name, owing to its freshness, that the protesters should not forget – Maxi Bolongaita. She was in her home, just back from work, about to get some rest. She was a model of independence and responsibility. What did she owe society that she had to go so quickly and so violently? Will society grieve for her with the same passion and intensity that it condemns the deaths of those who, like Maxi's killer, are the real menaces to that very same society?