SECOND CLASS CITIZENS

I have read in the news about six U.S. Marines (some reports say five) on military exercises in Central Luzon raping a Filipina. This is another golden opportunity for those activists, a.k.a. professional troublemakers, to vilify the excesses of Uncle Sam's troops while conveniently forgetting the rampant human rights violations that their comrades in the countryside are committing. And this is an acid test for our judiciary system to mete justice on the guilty regardless of their nationality.
We often complain of being treated like animals abroad, but how can we expect foreigners to treat us fairly when we allow them to treat us like second-class citizens in our own country? I hope for the sake of our women and children, they will bring those abusive jarheads to justice to send a very strong message that nobody is above the law in our country.
But this is just wishful thinking.
After awhile, the case will be forgotten and the Marines will be whisked away to freedom, only to be resurrected when another Filipina is defiled on our soil by a foreign national who will, expectedly, get off lightly. And there would be the self-righteous beating of chests, vilification campaigns, grandstanding and then silence until another sensational rape case erupts. And the vicious cycle goes on. We never learn, do we?

-Prospero E. Pulma Jr.