As the sun sets, and darkness fills the sky, the city awakes. Dazzling, gleaming light illuminates the city. Cars zoom down the roads, engines roaring and tires screeching, people hanging out the windows, hands in the air. They’re in it for the ride. A few blocks down there is a booming club, women with skimpy outfits and bold red lips, bills being thrown left and right, drinks being chugged down – this is the city life. Be careful when passing by alleyways, though, you might not make it out.
Nothing is heard but the soft breeze of the crisp, warm Philippines air. Soft waves crash along the silky white sand beach. Merely gazing from the surface, you get a glimpse of beautiful coral reefs that peep through the deep blue. Here, lie luscious jungles with a surplus of delightful coconuts, juicy mangos, and crisp pineapples. The kind, hardworking people of this village live a life nothing like that of the city. Folktales and ghost stories are shared between friends and family, that give a spark of creativity and magic to the land.
In the quiet Provence outside the bustling city of Manila, venturing past the array of volcanoes and rice fields, my mother, Juliet was born in Sorsogon Philippines, a province just outside Manila city. She was raised alongside her many siblings and lived in the Philippines for 24 years before she moved to the United States with her husband.
“Was there a lot of crime in the Philippines?” I had asked.
“Yes, a lot of people got killed, raped, kidnapped, trafficked.” She responded, and to many civilians, that the atrocious and sinister crime was normal, a part of everyday life. One of her sisters had visited the neighboring towns within Manila, which was a dangerous and poor area. There, a 9-year-old girl went missing.
Jagged rocks and thick bushes create Mother Nature’s chilling border between heaven and hell. Places where residents call home look like abandoned buildings with powerlines draped off the aluminum rooftops, with clothes handing from railings, door, or makeshift windows to dry. Stray dogs scurry behind houses, or into alleyways desperate to find anything to eat. Gangs scaling the roads at night, markets being robbed. This was life in the poorer areas of the Philippines.
“A white van just stopped and grabbed her after walking on the street. Just grabbed her and put her in the van.” The girl turned up a few days later, lifeless. She lay under the bridge outside the town, where her decaying body draped amongst the slimy, algae-covered rocks. A mother’s worst nightmare. Her stomach was stitched together, and in replace of her organs was 20 thousand pesos. (1,141 USD) This was done by a trafficking group, a syndicate. Evidently, crime and corruption are a large problem in the Philippines.
Law enforcement in the Philippines is weak and inefficient, many leaders view crime as inevitable and do little to stop it. The government is corrupt, with many politicians in it solely for the money, “When they sit in the office, all they care about is being rich and powerful.” During 2013 elections, 504 candidates were accused of crime and corruption. Philippines 16th President, Rodrigo Duterte was determined to bring peace and restore corruption. To fulfill his promise, Duterte implemented shoot to kill orders. Duterte’s first press conference, he claimed, “If you resist, show violent resistance, my order to police [will be] to shoot to kill. Shoot to kill for organized crime. You heard that? Shoot to kill for every organized crime.” Though the drug rates decreased from his firm orders, it resulted in the death of 6600 people and provoked further police corruption.
While the Philippines is beautiful, what goes on beneath the translucent water and vibrant, topical flowers is far much more sinister. The largest obstacle from peace and tranquility are humans themselves. Though humans possess the ability to love, they also possess the ability kill, and bring destruction.
