coffee break ver. 1.39
I’ll be Teys’ guest blogger today as my dear wife is quite “beat up” by our road trip throughout eastern Panay. Recently, the news has been filled with the executive clemency given to Claudio Teehankee Jr. Mr Teehankee was convicted for the murder of Maureen Hultmann and a companion in the early 90’s. It was a brutal murder when 2 kids who were going home from a party were gunned down by a middle aged man. One of them survived to tell the tale. This case prompted the restoration of death penalty in the Philippines.
The constitution of our Republic gives the President the authority to give clemency to prisoners. While she has this legal right, it does not necessarily mean that its exercise would always be morally correct. A key argument for the death penalty can be found in Gen 9 where it states that God requires an accounting for every man’s life shed by another man. Mr Teehankee morally deserved death but was only given reclusion perpetua. It is quite insulting to the victim’s family that clemency was given. Getting a life sentence is like a purchase discount. Getting a clemency is like robbery!
We do have to consider, however, that the ways of God are much higher than our ways. While the ancient law of Moses called for the death of adulterers, Jesus prevented the death of an adulterous woman. In the end, Claudio Teehankee Jr. will be accountable for everything given to him. If he uses his new freedom to live a life of faith and devotion to God, then he will be favored of God. We should not forget that we are accountable to God ourselves. While we are required to hate evil, we are also required not to hate the people who do the evil. We have to make sure that our attitude is right.
Many people say Jesus’ teaching was softer than that of God’s revelation to Moses. Is this really true? Moses said “do not commit adultery”… Jesus said “do not look lustfully”. Moses said “do not murder”… Jesus said “do not hate”. The higher standard of Jesus puts us in the same category as Claudio Teehankee Jr. It just so happened that Mr. Teehankee is perhaps more “honest” than we are?
Is there justice in the Philippines? There probably is none! But for justice to be in place, we ourselves have to be just. Are we fair in our dealings? Do we condone corruption? We cannot externalize a problem when we are part of it. What we see are only symptoms of an underlying problem. There needs to be a radical reformation of the Filipino psyche. We need do go back our ancient concepts of Dangal, Damayan and Bayanihan. We need to go back to the God of Heaven we worshipped in our youth. How dare we call ourselves the only “Christian” nation in Asia when we are more corrupt than our neighbors. Where is the proud and noble race of Lapu-Lapu, Soliman, Kudarat, Bonifacio and Rizal? Where is the paraiso, these men fought for? The answers are in our hearts.
REAN
