“Tell us what you wrote in the Wailing Wall.” Relatives and friends were insistent as to what I prayed for in my Jerusalem sojourn. The razzle-dazzle of the holiday spree inadvertently cut short my piece, Tears in Jerusalem, Dec. 27 of the year just passed. Get it now loud and clear: Peace for all of humankind.
For you and me, dear reader, and for the rest of the brethren in the whole wide world: Peace for all of humankind. Sounds like a New Year’s resolution, too. And why not? Never more do we need an ever greater capacity for compassion, understanding, and tolerance that make us cut across race, creed, gender, and nationality divide — chasms that our innate goodness tries to overcome.
Despite the nuclear threat, the inclement weather—floods, thunderstorms, relentless rainfall—all sorts of catastrophe and loss of lives, I daresay, hope springs eternal in the human heart. Hope forever beckons to this incurable optimist,
***
I’ve always believed that JUSTICE not VENGEANCE should be the operative watchword—the overriding maxim—for a truly democratic, egalitarian, just society. Extrajudicial killings? EJKs? Drug lord or canto boy deserves his day in court. Billionaire or small fry—whether or not it is the era of a Ferdinand Marcos or a Rodrigo Duterte. JUSTICE, not VENGEANCE.
***
In memory (and in praise) of my better-half, Atty. Rodolfo “Rudy” Lagoc, a human rights lawyer, I’ve selected these portions from Rudy’s Human Rights documents that he so wanted the Marcos dictatorship to implement. Beforehand, this brief intro: Rudy was detained in the Marcosian stockade for nearly eight months for being a harsh critic of Ferdinand Marcos and for standing counsel to student activists in courts. Read on:
IF YOU ARE ALREADY UNDER DETENTION
Your rights are:
- To be treated as a human being
- To due process, which comprises the rights:
- to be informed of the written regulations governing the detention center
- not to be punished for any act except in accordance with these regulations
- to be subjected to only such punishment for breaches of discipline as are the least restrictive means to maintain order and security in the detention center
- not to be subjected to corporal punishment, confinement in a dark cell or total isolation (bartolina).
- To receive visits from your family, friends and lawyers
- To practice your religion
- To adequate food and, if you desire, to procure food from outside, through the administration of the detention center or through family and friends
- To wear your own clothing unless you have none, in which case the detention administration shall supply it, but such clothing must be different from that supplied to convicts
- To healthful accommodations, with sufficient light and ventilation, and adequate sanitary and bathing facilities
- To a separate bed with adequate bedding
- To at least one hour’s daily outdoor exercise
- Not to be compelled to work unless you wish to
- To competent medical and dental service and to be treated by your own doctor or dentist if there is reasonable need for it and you or your family or friends pay for it
- To be furnished with or to procure reading or writing materials
- To be kept separate from convicts serving sentences
- To a speedy, impartial and public trial.
***
Almost daily, I visited Rudy in the stockade at Fort San Pedro in Iloilo City with our four kids in tow—Rose, Roderick, Randy, Raileen—ages 12, 11, 9, 7. They asked why their father was “imprisoned.” Steadfastness to ideals, I answered—which they would eventually understand in their grown up years.
I thanked the administrator of the detention center for the compliance of the provisions above stated. And I absolutely invoke the same compliance in the existing Duterte administration.
***
Julia Carreon-Lagoc was a Panay News columnist for two decades. She pops up with Accents now and then. (juliaclagoc@yahoo.com)/WDJ