Manufacturing Jackasses

(with excerpt from my journal entry dated March 8, 2012, a Thursday)

I almost forgot there was this idea that came to me last night that has got something to do with the “batang hamog” or street urchins on EDSA victimizing vehicles that ply the route. They [allegedly] throw stones at passing vehicles, steal from unlocked cars, etc.

Just a few days ago, they made the news. Several of them were [allegedly] throwing stones at a passing bus and it broke the bus’ windshield. The bus driver and conductor gave chase and caught two of them, and it so happened that a TV news crew was in the area and captured the incident on video.

So enraged were the bus driver and conductor that the children were beaten up. Not relentlessly, though. The children were resisting arrest and were even trying to escape (which one of them did manage), and so the driver and conductor had no second thoughts about beating them up—or so it was alleged. [Man, being politically correct does render modern-day literature dull and…never mind.]

And so, the incident made it to the evening news on national television, and then the next day, the Commission on Human Rights entered the picture and it has now filed charges of human rights violation against the bus driver and conductor.

Now, it was found out that one of the street urchins had been arrested several times already for such crimes, and all that was done with him was to make him undergo rehab with—I forget…the DSWD?—for a certain period of time.

It seems the laws in place that deal with minors involved in such cases are ineffective. I don’t know exactly what they do to rehabilitate minors who engage in criminal activities, but it seems our young criminals (or at least some of them) have grown smart enough to just go through the process and then go back to their old ways. Over and over again—it’s almost laughable, if not just pathetic.

And the parents of these children do not seem to be the least bit worried about the consequences of this kind of upbringing. “Our children are minors. They are protected by law, and we know it. Be afraid. The law is on our side.”

Yesterday, a mother brought her son (yet another street urchin) to the Commission on Human Rights to file charges against an adult who dealt with her son in a manner that allegedly violated the child’s human rights. I joked about it to Kuya Jing, telling him that perhaps it is the parents who should be punished for their children’s crimes. Incidentally, Aesop had the same thought, too, ages ago.* But he was unheeded.

My take on this is that in defining human rights, we should expound on them in such a way that includes the responsibilities that come with these rights. While they are basic, in many ways, our human rights are also a privilege. And nowhere else should this be held more true than in an oppressive society: When parents themselves don’t know any better, or don’t have enough means to sustain a family; or when there is a lack of political will among our politicians in enforcing the laws.

When you let your children run wild on the streets to fend for themselves, or when you let them stay up late (because you yourself like to stay up late), or when you let them smoke and drink (because you yourself are a heavy smoker and drinker and you are helpless about it), or when you make them watch junk TV (so that they won’t bother you while you make chismis with your neighbors), wouldn’t that be a human rights violation, too?

In the news last night, another street urchin was caught on CCTV, also on EDSA, being chased after by a taxi driver, who, according to reports, was victimized by the boy. In what way the driver was victimized, it was not specified. The boy got away. He climbed up a wire fence that serves as MRT enclosure, and within its protection, the boy started throwing stones at the taxi driver who, by then, had given up the chase and was seen walking back to his taxi.

It was an apt picture of how glaringly misconstrued human rights enforcement is in our society.  The wire fence that “protected” the boy from the taxi driver DID NOT really protect anyone. It did not protect the taxi driver, and neither did it protect the boy from being the jackass that he is bound to be when he grows up.

Sabi nga ni Uncle Ben (of Spiderman fame), with certain powers come great responsibility. In the same way, our rights also come with certain responsibilities. But if you cannot face up to these responsibilities, the tendency is for you to abuse your rights and privileges.

Now, if that be the case, WHAT WILL PROTECT YOU FROM YOURSELF? WHAT WILL PROTECT THOSE CHILDREN FROM THEMSELVES?

Ano pa, e di yung mga robot dun sa pelikulang “I, Robot.” Yun nga lang, in order to protect you from yourself, those robots will have to deprive you of most of your rights. Ahehe. Asa? Hehehe.

*Aesop's Fables: "The Young Thief and His Mother" (illustrated by Harrison Weir, 1867)