How elsedoyousay‘impunity’?

WHEN Malacañang wrote a Cebuano-Bisaya news release last Nov. 5, saying that itjoined United Nations in celebrating Nov. 2 as “International Day to End Impunity,” it had to translate that phrase into dialect.

The Palace came up with “Internasyonal nga Adlao sa Pag-undang sa Pagpamatay.” But “pagpamatay” or “killing” doesn’t precisely mean “impunity.”

Impunity means absence of punishment. It’s not the murder that’s impunity; it’s getting away with murder that is.

Does the dialect have no equivalent term? It has. In Tagalog, it’s “di pagkaparusa” or “pagkaligtas sa parusa.” In Cebuano-Bisaya, it could be “way silot” or “wa siloti.”

But each is a phrase, not one word. Talk in media forums on the fifth year of the Maguindanao Massacre used “impunity” repeatedly. Before that, in similar discussions, “impunity” has been said again and again.

Synonyms won’t do: “License,” “permission”? The law doesn’t allow it. “Liberty”? It’s not a right. The Supreme Court chief and the justice secretary said “impunity” is unacceptable to the state. But the word just doesn’t connect; it has failed to set off outrage.

Except to people who’re closely affected by unpunished killings, “impunity” doesn’t touch nerves or trigger action. Stuck with it Saying the Ampatuan Massacre killed 58 people and the murderers are still not punished would be simpler. But communicators need one word to sum it up and “impunity” is it: “impunitas” in Latin, “impunidad” in Spanish.

For years now, like the Ampatuan cases stalled in court, we’re stuck with “impunity.”

The word sounds like a cliche already, without quite succeeding to convey meaning and message.

— Atty. Pachico A. Seares