Let us remember in prayers the victims who perished when Malaysian Airlines MH 17 flight from Schipol (Netherlands) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was blown out of the skies by a missile.
It was just flying at 33,000 feet over a pro-Russian separatist rebel-held territory of Ukraine when it happened. Who could have fired a missile within such range?
Let us keep an open mind on the facts and circumstances of this senseless act of terrorism, especially that the victims were innocent civilians. Each of them was someone’s father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, friend, and colleague.
When one hears of such tragedy, it triggers feelings of immense grief, as such incident should not befall on anyone, of whatever nationality, race, color or religion.
There were three Filipinos on board flight MH17. The number may be insignificant but one life lost is just as resounding as the 170 Dutch nationals, and the other nationalities who suffered the same fate.
Without attributing fault on anyone, the least the pro-Russian rebels can do or undo is to cooperate with the normal consequences of an air crash of a civilian plane.
All nations are signatories to the UN Convention on the conduct of air crash investigation. As citizens of the world, they cannot wash off their hands from the direct responsibility to carry out the UN mandates. They have to ensure the integrity of the crash site, allow unfettered access to all interested parties, give due respect to the bodies of the victims, install proper equipment for refrigerated storage of the remains, assist in the identification of the victims, etc.
This is the chance for the Ukrainian separatists to show the world that they join the world community in dealing with the aftermath, with decency and civility.
Based on their ideological leanings, they are pro-Russian, hence, the world expects Russia to exert its influence on these rebels, to follow international protocols.
As a world leader, Russia has to respond to the clamor to act according to the norms of conduct, defined under the UN charter. Whether or not there are legalities involved under international law, the issues in this incident is beyond any legality.
It is about being human, and how we relate with other humans. All human beings shed the same tears of sorrow, feel the pain of loss, break hearts, and disturbed minds, when confronted with such catastrophic incident.
How can the pro-Russian rebels explain or justify their behavior after the crash? Yes, the old Filipino adage is indeed true: Madaling maging tao, ngunit mahirap magpakatao! (It is easy to be a man, but it is hard to behave like one!)
It is beyond human comprehension that such behavior can occur in this day and age of satellites and hi-tech monitoring-communications systems, but it did happen.
Do these people even care? They seem to damn the whole world in saying: “We can do whatever we want! This is our territory! Really disgusting.
It is time for all good people of all nations to do something. Otherwise, these evil men will flourish.
Pray for the MH17 victims. Pray for world peace.
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Author’s email: whelmayap@yahoo.com
