Harrowing moments

We’re back to talking about killings again, and for those who grew up during the Marcos years, listening to the current stories of mayhem and death dredges those nightmares of old. Particularly riveting was the one that happened in the Cebu City mountain barangay of Malubog the other day.

That does not mean those that happened in Cebu City’s urban area and in Talisay City on the same day weren’t riveting; it’s just that the one in Malubog offered more mystery and drama.

On the claims by the two survivors of the Malubog carnage, I was able to monitor in traditional media only that of the woman. I didn’t have the time to roam social media for additional tidbits of information. But it was enough to remind me that we really are in rough times, just like during the Marcos dictatorship days.

I saw video clips of the woman and I could sense in her face the genuineness of her fears. She had been to hell and back and the nightmare, still fresh in her mind, must have been replayed every time she was asked to give the details of what happened. I pity her.

I went through almost similar harrowing moments twice when I was younger and when fire was still burning in my belly. That’s why I am saddened when others go through the same experience. I have become a pacifist because I know what it is like to be in violent situations.

Malubog straddles one of Central Cebu’s mountain peaks. Sans violent incidents, the place and its environs are beautiful in their own way. Out there you see the rough terrain stretch out far and wide, visible for already being devoid of its forest cover.

In a way, precisely because the terrain was rough there that the woman and the man who survived the carnage were able to escape certain death. That, plus the darkness of dawn, conspired to ensure they would survive to tell their tale about the killings. Five others weren’t as fortunate.

In the lowlands, 11 more died in what has been described as a killing spree.

But back to the two survivors. They are still alive because they were able to take their chances and run, tumbling down the slope before hiding in the vegetation. It helped that the killers no longer bothered to do a thorough search, for one reason or another. I reckon the loss of the darkness cover made that possible. When the sun’s rays lifted the veil of darkness in the area, the perpetrators left.

I hope all of these incidents were just aberrations and that we will be back to living the peaceful life we all dream of having. Long ago, I realized this: the end does not and should not justify the means. In my youth, I believed in the national democratic program of the revolutionary left until I realized the cost, especially to human lives. If only the goal could be achieved without undergoing bloody revolution, I thought then.

The violence we are seeing now almost everywhere is partly caused by our eagerness to win the war against the illegal drug trade--by hook or by crook, I should add. Indeed, the killing spree the other day had one common denominator: links to the illegal drug trade. Yes, we are right smack in the middle of a war, and that is unfortunate.