By: Rey David A. Gayas
There is a need to hold those eyes. Otherwise, it will open, freeze, and never be closed. Death is a rushed drama because if one does not act fast, many things will freeze – the eyes need to be closed, the jaws worn down opening the mouth, and the hands need to be arranged. I experienced closing the eyes of a dead person twice. The first was when I was a chaplain at Manila Doctors Hospital. Secondly, and hopefully the last one, is seeing my father’s death. The memory stings even after seven years. I saw it vividly. The man in his cab shot in the head; blood splattered across the street. Cancer patients in the hospital, like my father, are between the threshold of hope and despair many times. What a depressing scenario for the young. When I look around, it is not an illusion. Death and blood are not only for me but for every Filipino whose eyes are open.
Blood was given to quench the thirst of the people. Remember how many times the Filipinos heard the words, “Patay”, “Bugbog”, and even “Tokhang”, which is new to the ears. Now, is it settled? Not an inch of progress. Violence is unwittingly everywhere. I play basketball but not to the extent of instigating and engaging in a brawl, unlike what Filipinos saw in the NCAA. The socio-political drama is still on. I thought it ended with former senator De Lima’s imprisonment. Maybe politics and teleserye are so complementary that when I turn on the TV, the question of what revelation comes next is the same with my favorite show and the news shown.
Lest we forget: The International Criminal Court is still investigating extrajudicial killings. The pandemic is still visible, not an illusion. The rising criminality is present, like a time bomb ticking as inflation rises. It is a revolution under the puppetry of the death culture, clinging to each problem like a shadow that will swallow everything whole when dusk ends, and night falls. One is trapped by the thought and fear of death, for it is now in control. Being proactive, how can one do a ripple?
The pursuit of the legal profession is demanded in these trying times. The pandemic brought many to think about how we lacked doctors and nurses. How about this rising criminality? The Filipinos who thirst for violence and blood, and the endless socio-political drama? Truth-seekers and defenders are needed. Lawyers, and future lawyers, are being asked to have a greater purpose. Be the abogado that is sought to cling unto one’s name. Stand for the needy, not with money. The claws of the wicked are buried within the Filipinos. Now that we know these things, it will be folly to run and hide and live in comfort while slowly, the regression of a nation is happening.
THE BARRISTER 