When a murderer becomes a “hero”
by those who wanted to restore their order
As time goes by the current administration is becoming more than just a thermidor.
By reading comments from its apologists praising the recent murder of former Lamitan mayor Rose Furigay by gunman Chao Tiao Yumol, seems that they condone the murder by supporting the murderer’s reason- accusing the late ex-mayor of corription and dealings with prohibited drugs, something that the family denied and sued Yumol for several counts of libel.
But what seems obvious is that Yumol, being a diehard Duterte supporter and a Marcos fanatic, killed Furigay who’s aligned with the opposition, and not suprising for his posts on his social media account praising the past regime right or wrong and therefore should be continued under the present administration- thoughts the apologists of both regimes madly shared about, demanding a purge as they claim the opposition as a bunch of corrupt plutocrats while Marcos, Duterte as holier-than-thou beings.
This may sound bullshit but from these people who wanted an out-and-out Showa Restoration-like scenario they wanted chaos first to happen. How come? They find having a thermidor under the current administration not enough as they wanted more than just celebrating Marcos’s victory as president last May- that they really wanted a purge to happen if necessary.
And with the death of a former mayor aligned with the opposition by a gunshot during a graduation ceremony in Ateneo de Manila shows that the intent ain’t simply a political-cum-personal vendetta as what the killer claimed; but a go-signal to a scenario that’s wanted by apologists yearning to see „chaos to restore order” in the name of the regime.
Ironically, this happened days before the „State of the Nation Address” and not surprised that apologists of the order not just trolled the victims, but also praising Yumol as a hero and blaming the „yellows” for the incident. According to Rappler, Yumol's Facebook page gained nearly 13,000 new followers in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and it became a hub of comments, many of which praised the shooting or sympathized with Yumol's decision. When Rappler contacted Meta three days after the shooting, the page had been removed. However, content praising, supporting, and justifying Yumol has continued to circulate on TikTok, YouTube, and, to a lesser extent, Facebook, revealing how social media companies continue to struggle with how to respond to violent extremism.
Furthermore, a petition from Yumol's supporters was posted on Change.org calling for the murderer's release. According to the petition it stated that “he’s just an ordinary person tailored with a heart that swells, with a voice that yearns along with his people, and with an eye that sees the need of the people; with no intent of deprivation, but with a strong affliction to empower people.” That “He’s just an ordinary person, who stood firm for the rights of the oppressed, who saw the longing of the unnoticed, who spoke the voice of the uncertain.” How saintly they’re trying to appear him as such when his own statements prior to his actions smacks of trash- or isn’t it that calling him a martyr for a cause that’s obviously causeless? So much for the desire to restore their idealised past that they wanted to make it happen, blaming the opposition, red-tagging them if necessarily, harassing to and fro, and then kill them as a Pièce de résistance.
Call it absurd but if a concerned may ask, is trolling enough coming from these people claiming „unity”? As far as a concerned sees is that these people venting their thoughts on social media wanted more than humiliating them, seeing them defeated in the recent election, or beaten out because they’re from the opposition, they simply wanted to see them „going straight to hell” the way they accuse them of various crimes proven or imagined. And Yumol’s action becomes an example of yearning for a restoration.