#AnimatED: Grief in a time of terror

Tears, rather than words, come to us as we remember the dead, those killed in President Duterte’s war on drugs and those slain as a result of this environment of murder. A horrific war gone rogue. And among some of us, a tacit acceptance of this situation.

Tears mingle with fear and rage, our hearts bursting with questions. 

How can we even come close to knowing the depths of the grief wrenching Lauren’s and JR Rosales’s mother?

How can a mother lose her only 2 children to the dark forces of violence spawned by a culture of impunity encouraged by no less than the President?

How can a 5-year old innocent, Danica Mae Suarez, fall victim to this unrelenting war?

How can the dead from the poor communities, already with threadbare lives, suffer more indignity as they are buried, en masse, in unmarked graves?

How could our streets have turned into casual places of murders? On one night in October alone, at least 12 were killed. On other nights, the count could go higher.

How have our policemen become so emboldened?

As of the 4th week of October, more than 4,700 have been killed since Duterte took office on July 1. Of this figure, 3,000 were victims of extrajudicial killings; the rest were felled in police operations.

We hear from the families of the victims about their fear to speak up, to fight for justice. The malevolent forces may come after them. They may be next.

How have we come to this? How has the underpinning of our fragile democracy, our respect for the rule of law, been so eroded? 

Tears do not blur our thoughts. Clearly, we need to reclaim our humanity, our sense of fairness and justice. 

In this time of terror and grief, there is one thing we’re sure of: there is no way forward except to end these killings. – Rappler.com