It’s been 2 weeks after the Maguindanao Massacre and although some unrest continues in the province, progress has been made in terms of arresting the suspects of this heinous crime. The question people ask is if it’s enough? I will frankly say that nothing in this situation has ever been enough. Despite lingering angst and the unquenched fire in our bellies, there is only so much we can do at this point. We have to let justice take its course.

However, when you look at it, justice in the Philippines has always been elusive. No matter how hard you try to find it, it remains a figment of wishful thinking! However, I still do believe that justice is just like nature. If perpetrators escape the law of man, then they are subject to the laws of nature and divinity. Their term may come later than we expect but it WILL come and believe me it’s never a pleasant ending for them.

We all mourned as a nation and stood united in crying out for the injustice that occurred. We have done our part and, sad as it may seem, we now need to hand over the reins of our anguish to lady justice and let her do the rest. A sordid and frightening question we may ask is; “will something like this ever happen again?”

Not to sound like the advocate of the grim reaper but I believe it will. Some other day in some other place; more innocent people will lose their lives for the sake of politics! That’s how powerful political desire is! It drives men to take drastic measures and they lose all respect for the sanctity of life. Given the fact that holding a political office offers a chance at ill-gotten wealth, this alone is enough to quell any appeal to sane consciousness! This carnage was an act of insanity and cruelty! Such are acts that seem inconceivable to the mind of sane individuals like you and me!

As long as men are driven to insanity by the lure of public office, the Philippines will never rise above its current state. Once a respected and renowned Asian superpower, this proud nation has been reduced to the level of a third world country due to the never-ending struggle for power, illicit wealth and dominance by unscrupulous men (or women).  While these maniacs get richer, the masses continue to fall desperately below the poverty line! So much for this “political will” that electoral candidates talk about so openly on television!

The journalists who died in this tragedy all represent the voice of the nation that has been stifled by the greed of power hungry beasts! It somehow symbolizes how the government has taken away the voice of the Filipinos but despite this many of us continue to blindly support them. The political and electoral system of this country has turned into one big circus where intimidation and popularity rule while those with good and clean intentions would never get to see the inside of a public office! We should not allow this lunacy to continue! Let us all regain our lost voice! You don’t have to be a governor to affect change! The spark of change must come from within each and every one of us!

As we move on together let us not forget the martyrs of Maguindanao and all others who fell to the brutal axe of politics! As I wrote in my last blog, we should all honor their memories by doing what is right and living our lives to the fullest! We should never allow ourselves to be complacent and always make a stand for justice. Whether we tinker away on our keyboards voicing out our rage or march under the scorching sun across EDSA, everything you do in the name of justice and righteousness is never a waste!

As long as there are people who are willing to lobby for righteousness, the people who try to take away our freedom and rights will never succeed! Let us all hold on together and never allow politics and injustice to continue its reign of terror! 

Every event in our lives has a lesson we can learn from. No matter how grim or desperate it may be, these incidents are put in our way to impart life-changing learning that we all can benefit from. The Maguindanao Massacre has, indeed, been an unprecedented event that has shocked a nation but at the same time united a country in seeking the very elusive justice that each and every one of us deserves.

We all grieve and sympathize with the loved ones left behind by the victims of this obviously inhuman act. From this we all remember that life is a precious gift given to us by God and that it is our eternal right to live it the best way we can. No one, no matter who they may be, has the right to take this away from anyone! What keeps us human and superior to every living being on this planet is the preservation of our own lives and that of others. When we cross that line, it just shows how we have decided to give up being human and stoop down to the level of beasts and predators!

Unfortunately, it is a sad truth that every day the sanctity of life is not respected and as Dr. Patch Adams once said, “Humans are the only beings on this planet known to kill their own species”. Life is beautiful and, in itself, a miracle that we should all be thankful for from the time we awake to the time we rest in slumber.  So, who said miracles don’t happen every day?

The next lesson we can derive from this is Complacency. Nothing good ever came out of complacency. Politicians and their private armies have been around for decades hence the common Filipino cliché for power: “Guns, Goons and Gold”! What has the government done about it? Nothing! It had to come to an appalling carnage of death before anyone ever thought of ridding Maguindanao of illegal firearms and disbanding so-called private armies in the area! What about the other areas?

Are they following too or will another massacre like this occur somewhere else??Are we waiting for a ticking time bomb to go off in some other unfortunate province? I really do feel that the current and incoming administration should stop resting on their laurels and actually do something about this! It may be easier said than done but politicians keep talking about political will on TV but I still believe actions always speak louder than words! To those running for office, stop jabbering and start doing something! Maybe then will you be worthy of our votes!

Although I can identify many lessons from this tragedy, one I will impart here is justice. I don’t know if you will agree that justice in the Philippines is elusive and harder to find than a needle in a haystack. Justice, like life, is our inherent right! Just like life, we are all deprived of it due to the greed and wickedness of other people. Justice should not be a privilege only to be enjoyed by those who can afford it. Whether you are a pauper or the richest person on the planet, justice should be equal and impartial. Sad to think that is just wishful thinking. How sweet the day will be when it’s not love but justice that is truly blind.

Lastly, as a doctor I can safely say that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. If only people in power knew the great potential they have to stop the madness and to not perpetrate it themselves! If only they would realize that a small bold act of standing up for what’s right goes a long way in preventing the horrors of this massacre from ever repeating itself. Power is a gift and a privilege that must be welded responsibility because lives hang in the balance when it isn’t.

Let us honor the fallen by living our lives correctly and to the fullest. We should always strive to learn about the lessons that life throws our way and may we always impart these crucial things we learn to others. No matter how difficult a situation may be, we all should remember that there is always wisdom to be learned from it. It’s the lessons we learn from pain that ultimately strengthen us to soldier through this difficult but glorious road we all call life.

 Please check out my other blog on the Maguindanao Tragedy entitled "Gratitude Over Justice?".

As a manager, I’ve had to make decisions that deemed me unpopular and unlikable by some employees. Unfortunately, that’s all part of my job! There are times when the concept of putting people first does jeopardize the company and a swift, and often ruthless, decision has to be made to keep everything afloat. The next thing I know, I suddenly have become the target of comments on social media networks.

Not that it always bothers me and I have been known to love a little controversy in my life. There are times however where the comments are so low that it irritates me and qualifies as, what I like to call, “Senseless Rage”. Why senseless? It’s because these comments are tasteless and often have no basis. These people, often in great anger, would stop at nothing to take shots at you anyway they can. Most often, they don’t even have the guts to say these things to me personally. It may sound defensive but this also qualifies as childish behavior and denotes a lack of personal responsibility in the people who engage in such activity.

I have always advocated for the responsible use of social media as a medium for quick and efficient communication but it is people like these who ruin the very essence of it. They act like deprived children and find it reliving to trash the very person, online, who denied them of whatever it is they wanted. I’ve always been upfront with people, whether they were team members or my boss, so I definitely do not appreciate people we can’t give me the same courtesy.

People who dabble in senseless rage actually do something they don’t know. By allowing their anger to manifest online, they throw away control of their situation. In other sense, they have just handed the reins of their life over to the person who is the explicit target of their rage! By not having the courage to be upfront, they cover their inadequacies by posting hateful comments about others online.

At one point or another, you may have had the impulse to give in to senseless rage but let me tell you that it’s not worth it! I would never want to live my life without control, much less, let my anger control it for me.  We may think that posting comments about others gratifies us but in fact we are just showing off our inadequacies and insecurities to the whole world.

What that bugs me a lot is when people always say they are the victim of something. Whether it’s a bad boss or always having bad luck, it always makes things a whole lot easier just to “play victim”. It is always the easy route to take by not accepting responsibility for something and to just blame it on external forces, or worst, on the supernatural.  I honestly have gone through such a phase myself when every time things don’t go the way I want it to be, I automatically go into “victim mode”. This usually results to one of two things. Either I’ll cower into my shell and wait for it to pass or I’ll just take flight. None of these solutions have gotten me anywhere.

It made me feel good. Playing the victim indemnified me of any part in the situation however, by doing so I didn’t realize that I relinquished all of my possible control over the scenario. Why do we resort to such foolish tactics? Is it to gain the sympathy of others? Probably! Is it to regain our self worth by pinning the blame on someone else? Most likely!

Whatever the reason may be the bottom-line is that we are just manipulating ourselves and others into believing that we can never be responsible for the mishaps in our life. I have come to the point in my life where I can safely say to myself that anything that happens in my life is a product of my own doing. Any decision I make will always have a consequence. Just because that consequence is not to my liking does thate mean that playing victim will wash away any responsibility on my part? I don't think so!

Jennifer Aniston, the famous Friends star, when asked about her failed relationship with Brad Pitt said that she gives herself just one day to play victim. After that, she then takes responsibility for her part in the failure. Even if that part was a meagre one percent, it is still something she will strive to improve on. I have heard every excuse known to man and you’d be surprised how outrageous some of them are. Just to rid themselves of any part in an undesirable situation, people will go out of their way to tell the tallest of tales.

I believe it should stop here! You will never progress in anything if you always feel you are being victimized by others. Why would you want to be the victim and give control to other people? The more you deny responsibility for any part of a situation; you have just handed the reins over to the other person and let them take control your life. It’s like riding in a carriage but you not having any control over the horses and the direction they travel. In fact, playing victim makes you weaker and more vulnerable than you can imagine. Stand up, be responsible and take control! That’s the only way you can ever hope to steer your life in the right direction!