Mabini Hall - Access to Justice

On Monday, the 12th of May, militants called for a transport strike to protest the rising oil prices. Strikes are a thing of the past: they serve no purpose except to cripple the strikers themselves and the economy. If at all, it only serves notice that utilities in this country are higher than the rest of our neighbors and that regardless of the increases in the minimum wage, the key measurement is the percentage spent to maintain the basic necessities.

Two thousand cops were deployed lest violence erupt. Somewhere in Paco, violence of the gravest kind did happen. A friend, Alfred Dy, was shot to death in broad daylight at 10:00 a.m. outside a Banco de Oro bank by robbers on motorcycles. One shot him while another used a hammer to break the window to get to the money bag Alfred withdrew that morning. It was not the first incident.

Previously, Alfred was robbed in the fashion without the killing. The bank was then known as Equitable-PCI Bank before being bought by BDO. The modus operandi was eerie. Alfred was known to withdraw cash on Mondays to pay suppliers in his industry which runs on cash basis. That the robbers/killers knew when to strike can only lead to simple conclusions.

When our organization learned of his killing, it came as a shock because the last thing he did for us what to run a legal mission. He organized a group of lawyers to provide free legal service to people who crave for justice and fairness.

Alfred was young in his early 30’s. He was soft-spoken and kind for someone in a tough profession in a strike-torn country. He was cheerful in the midst of daily trials. He was entrepreneurial with the courage to take calculated risks. Now, our human capital recorded another deficit in our march to progress.

We asked that he be a bit more careful with carrying huge sums of money. A few years ago, we lost another friend, Johnson, his lovely wife and young kids to a fire that hit their home. They were trapped and suffocated and burned to death. Surely, these human tragedies can be avoided?

An inspiring twist was the heroic response of two policemen. One of whom was off-duty when he heard the gunshots. They initially did not fire at the killers because of the crowd. They returned fire only when they were shot at which is probably why they lost their lives. They lost the element of surprise and sacrificed themselves for the faceless, nameless crowd. We continue to look down and insult our men in uniform.

Anything can happen in this crazy world. Life is short and in our country, it is short for very different reasons. We live aimlessly until the next tragedy cuts us down to size. We forget and we continue on. How many times do we have to face mortality?

Strike at injustice, strike at violence, strike at senseless death. Serve the community and keep your head up. Rest in peace, Alfred, light the path for our brothers in the service of humanity, silently toiling and rolling with the daily punches of reality. We grieve with your family; we grieve for your family. We grieve for ourselves.

We commend the policemen who died in the line of fire outside their official station while many others shy away from the call of duty even if expressly tasked. As long as there is one heroic act from a tragedy like this, we have reason to cheer. From our gray streets and decaying core, heroes can be found.