WHEN A TERRORIST GURU DIES

so osama bin laden has been killed; he who reflected, conceptualized, led and ordered massive groups of young and old men and women to conduct violent activities even in peaceful and innocent venues as his campaign against the United States. what makes an individual turn that violent? what kind of parents did he have. reports could be rife about his background, but still it is difficult to fathom how his mission in life has revolved around sowing fear, sowing terror all around the globe.

why did this century produce a person like osama bin laden? was it his just pure hatred of the United States peoples? her institutions? her democracy? what is it about democracy that he hated?

if osama lived instead of died, what could have happened? i am sure it was difficult for the US forces to have made him lived. Pakistan is not a safe place, not from terrorists. even many women there approve of terrorism. i know one female leader who looked surprised at me when i questioned why she was not campaigning against osama bin laden and yet she could converse on the most highly intellectual ideas about feminism.

hence, the killing of osama could have been justified because his own people could have retaliated right there and then and produced more acts of aggression against any one.

yes, terrorism is a faceless campaign -- as we do not know who is a terrorist in our midst. it could be anyone who is just tired of using democratic procedures in achieving even simple desires and necessities like shelter, food, education, water and many more. is it really exhausting asking for these? why can't they be given on a silver platter for everyone who breathes life? why make it so difficult to live on this planet?

i do not condone terrorism at all. i would not turn terrorist at all. in fact, i would rather die than kill a terrorist. but it is so funny that in our country, the Philippines, some broadcasters would ridicule news about terrorism and treat it as if it were just an ordinary piece among so many pieces that they have mouthe everyday; thus in the end, empowering the terrorists by their cynicism.

and of course, ordinary folks like this restaurateur in Diliman treats terrorism in another comical way. she labels one of her menu foods as "vegetarian terrorist" a pun on the hot chili taste of the veggies.

yes, in our country, terrorism does not connote something dire -- it is an option to many like the armed aggressions of the new people's army. the abu sayyaf, the mnlf and milf. the only ones protesting heavily against their acts are the victims themselves, especially the businesspeople who turn bankrupt from the encounters, kidnapping and "taxation" all the time.

yet if osama had lived to defend himself, we would have seen the phantom of hitler in him -- justifying in all his glory why blood has to be shed, why everyone should be armed, why every suicide bomber is a hero or a heroine, why it was justifiable for him to have ordered the bombing into rubbles of the world trade center. and by his intellect, he could have convinced young minds whose preoccupation now are those computer games of violence as well. and who knows how many more people would get killed later from their imitative acts.

and so, if he had lived, i am sure Obama would be the number one target of his people if he was not released, although by now this is already a given -- going by the ill logic of his campaign. anyone who does not adhere to his mission is considered an enemy meant to be eliminated in this life.

and so, actually, we are back to that era of survival of the fittest, that so-called "caveman's tactics" of killing those who grab his food, who steals his wife, and deprives him of even that simple thing as the roasted tail of an ox, among others.

now how do we really get rid of terroristic mentality? we need to address this question because the killing of that guru of violence does not end there. his gangmates could be plotting more heavy activities designed to draw attention to themselves and their cause.

to my mind, once we are able to demystify terrorism, to show that life on earth is better than that of a fugitive hiding all the time and plotting to destroy institutions, and to kill as many people as possible at one time to grab public attention or just to plainly get even with anyone and everyone in society. it must be a very tall order to answer this right away; but we can start at the most basic step: that of empowering the people.

we need to start in the barangay, that smallest political unit in our country. we need to check who are coming in and going out of the barangay because the gang could easily weave in and out of such a place.

i remember one time going to Quiapo where there loads of CDs and VCDs being sold. one guy with a knapsack passed me by and nearly shoved me down the path. i complained but instead of being apologetic he growled at me with eyes that seem to say, "Don't you know me?" he was a young man, perhaps even in his late teens but his self-assurance was questionable. could he have been hiding a gun in his knapsack? was he there then to have an r and r from his terroristic activities? his response can hardly be labeled normal as the rest of the vendors in the place lowered their eyes when i questioned his uncouth behavior and he had responded in a more uncouth manner.it was as if he was a kind of an institution there -- untouchable no matter if it was his fault.

and there and then i deduced that the people in the area could be cowed readily into submission, obedience and silence once a person holds an arm --whether flaunted about or kept from public view.

so, barangay empowerment is needed -- people empowerment which means knowing the ways the barangay is using the funds for the betterment of their lives, knowing that they are included in the planning on a day-to-day, week-by-week and year-by-year basis.

in our barangay, i was told by our capitana that she would be available every monday, and that very next Monday when we met at the swearing in of the new set of officers of the newly organized Bahay Caridad Housing Association, headed by Bot Alquero. but when i went to her office that monday, she was nowhere to be found, her staff immediately meeting me by the door to tell me that she had just gone. yet i called up before coming and had been told that she was there. when i looked around, i saw her son emerging from the door and their van at the parking lot.

in other words, there is a cordon-sanitaire built around the official who give the go-signal whether one can meet her or not. and this is replicated within the government bureaucracy itself, which then accounts for that inching of any individual into terroristic ideas and acts. why, because, the very people that have been elected, who promised a lot of changes during the campaigns, suddenly become inaccessible and underlings whose ideas of power revolve around being the gatekeepers and not by any whit of humane caring for the constituents now become the new quasi officials that have to be dealt with. this is not democracy but elitism.

yes it is elitism that will kill any aspiration for a democratic life. it is the lack of transparency in government planning, programming and activities that will encourage the seeds of protest, of revolt to grow.

and as we are now in that era of undoing all acts of moral depravity of the past administration, we must put up people centers -- phone and texting numbers, email addresses that make officials easily accessible. we must make all radio and tv stations have slots for the people's views, complaints and ideas about how to make this government function for us.

lastly, i suggest that we change the energy secretary every time a new round of oil price increase arises as it means that he or she is not capable of solving the greatest problem of the people. the department of energy can spell a lot as to what kind of life we can lead, and looking back in our history, all the secretaries become blind when it comes to such increases, and worse, become apologists for the oil cartels' predatory acts.

God save our country from untoward acts from hereon. Amen.