COMMONSENSE
By Marichu A. Villanueva
The Philippine Star
By Marichu A. Villanueva
The Philippine Star
The bullet that cut short the life of seven-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella was traced to a .45 caliber pistol that was fired during the New Year’s eve celebration. The young girl was merely watching the fireworks from the supposed safe spot outside their house when the bullet pierced her head and got embedded below her right eye.
Doctors at the East Avenue Medical Center tried hard to save Nicole who went comatose shortly after getting shot in the head. The series of cardiac arrests of their young patient, however, was too much. The slug was recovered from the frail victim who succumbed to the head injury 48 hours later. Ella passed away at 2:26 p.m. Wednesday.
She never had the chance to say goodbye to her parents. They stayed beside their daughter at the hospital bed, crying for justice while she breathed her last. According to the grieving parents, Nicole was looking forward to going back to school in first grade at Tala Elementary School in Caloocan City.
Despite stern warning again all the way from Malacañang Palace and from the highest law enforcement authorities on the “indiscriminate” firing of guns in the New Year revelry, this did not deter these stupid gun owners from using them in their own version of deadly fireworks.
“You can (be assured) of this government’s resolve to go after all those who fired indiscriminately their guns during the last New Year,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda was quoted as saying.
Come to think of it, is there such a thing as “discriminate” firing of guns? I guess any discharge from firearms, especially by police and military personnel must be discriminate in defense of their own lives and in the performance of their duty to protect people.
The presidential spokesperson further cited the Aquino administration has been cracking down on “loose” firearms and private armed groups, especially with the election season coming up.
The slug of the killer bullet was identified after the autopsy on Nicole was done by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory. The next most difficult task for investigators is to look for and determine who could have fired that gun. You don’t have to be a crack police investigator to theorize the bullet must have been fired around the neighborhood in Malaria, Caloocan City where Nicole’s family lives.
Therefore, the first people who must be investigated are the police and military personnel and registered gun owners living in that neighborhood, just to start the ball rolling and eliminate them as suspects.
To their credit, both the PNP and the Armed Forces ceremonially taped their guns as a vow that they won’t be part of any “indiscriminate” use of their government-issued firearms during the New Year noisemaking.
There are unverified claims at least three more “stray” bullet incidents during the New Year’s eve celebration allegedly happened around Nicole’s community, but these were not reported. Thus, these went unrecorded in the police blotter. There were also reports that at least six empty shells were recovered near the area of Nicole’s residence.
Initial examinations of the slug pointed to the possibility that the bullet that killed Nicole came from about 50 meters, with a 90-degree trajectory. This however has to be validated with the father of Nicole who saw how she fell to the ground after being shot and other witnesses who may be able to shed light on the incident.
Even if the gun was fired upwards with no intent to shoot anyone, that idiot should have known anything that goes up must come down with equal, if not greater velocity due to gravity. In this case, a powerful .45 caliber bullet ripped through the flesh and skull of the frail child Nicole.
Through modern forensic and ballistic examinations of the bullet’s slug, investigators could determine the particular gun it was fired from. Now the problem is to trace the idiotic, homicidal gun owner.
If this gun is among the 552,000 “loose” firearms all over the country as estimated by the PNP, Nicole’s case will end up as another unsolved crime. The term “loose” firearms refer to PNP’s Firearms and Explosives Office record of registered gun owners who did not renew their licenses and therefore are now all unaccounted for.
The PNP estimate does not include loose firearms that were not even registered with them and therefore not licensed. Also the PNP estimates do not take into account the guns and other high-powered firearms in the hands of New People’s Army rebels, Muslim secessionists’ breakaway group of Kumander Kato, and Abu Sayyaf bandits.
Aside from the death of Nicole, the PNP logged so far 40 cases of “stray” bullet incidents that injured young and old people during the New Year revelry. This could be dire foreboding for the coming May 2013 elections in our country with the proliferation of loose firearms in our midst.
The knee-jerk reaction from our politicians is to press for stiffer penalty and stricter enforcement of our country’s gun laws. But how can you enforce existing gun laws and penalties for violators when government authorities could not even handle the half a million loose firearms?
This a tough challenge for newly installed PNP director-general Alan Purisima who is the designated implementor and enforcer of the presidential slogan for the May 2013 polls called SAFE, which stands for Secure And Fair Elections.
When President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III named Purisima to take over erstwhile PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome, it raised quite a furor. This was because the Commander-in-chief forced the early retirement of Bartolome ahead of the latter’s scheduled end of tour duty this March. P-Noy justified this, citing the need for the new PNP chief to be on board to prepare early for the May elections.
With firearms in the hands of more idiots like the one who killed Nicole, Purisima has to live up to high presidential expectations.
Even then, grim thoughts remain as these loose firearms could be in the arsenal of unknown individuals who could be hired guns or other faceless criminals.
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