For someone who has not followed news for quite some time, I find it weird that I'm in this position again, anxiously waiting for something, joining the public in anticipation, or hopefully, the postponement of what would be another "big news".
Though hopes are bleak and it seems that the writing is on the wall, we still believe that there's a chance to change things.
(It's a given that someone will raise the point that it's just how Filipinos are: positive thinkers amidst any crisis. Mapa-baha o bagyo, nakangiti pa rin. K.)
However, you can only do so much. Or in this case, for us, nothing at all.
Maybe that's the root of all the problems, that we can't do anything else and we're cornered that we are forced to swallow our pride and take the leap of faith.
It's a pity that our migrant workers are pressed with this dilemma of leaving the country and jumping at any opportunity for a better life without even knowing if there is such. Parents, teenagers, middle-class workers are flying to the Middle East, the Americas, and all over the world just to get a better living while leaving their clan back home longing for their touch.
Yet, there are a few unfortunate ones, tricked and maltreated, fooled by their naiveness, and later, the ones suffering and are in the literal line of fire as the masterminds bask in the comforts of their underground empires.
As the clock continues to tick, news tidbits sprout from everywhere: the spine-tingling images of those empty coffins arriving in prison; the last messages given by the victims to their loved ones; and probably, the most eyebrow-raising of them all, that story comparing the fate of those which will be executed to a girl who killed his mother and will only get 10 years of prison because of her infant.
Looking at it again and all you might say is that the system out there is f'd up. But isn't that the same here in our country, albeit in a different sense of the system being f'd up?
Of course, people will blame the government for the fate of those who were and will be executed. They always do. And they have the right to, because the government are supposed to serve and protect the people.
But ever since I don't know when, what did the government ever do to avert any of these incidents? Not just for today but also, in the past, and (hopefully not) in the future?
Let me rephrase that. Can they do something? anything?
Which brings us back to where we are right now... nothing. There's nothing we can do about it.
For the nth time, people will say that what will happen in the next few hours should serve as a lesson to all of us. Yet, when another name pops up again (hopefully not), we'll be wondering if there is something we can do, or if there's something the government will do to help us.
Hopefully, if and when that time comes, it's more than nothing.
