REALITY can definitely be stranger than fiction, as evidenced by the Percy Lapid murder case. The way the authorities are handling the case leaves the impression that they either don't have a clue or they are being played. While transparency is a good thing, not every development needs to be presented to the public right when it happens, without thorough vetting and due consideration that premature release of information to the public could jeopardize the case. What most of us want is not a daily dose of entertainment a la 'Ang Probinsyano' but that crimes are solved and the perpetrators brought to justice.

It is very unfortunate that the Mabasa murder case has been messed up like this. We need to be able to believe in and trust that the justice system is working. We need to be assured that law enforcement officials and their higher-ups — including Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. — are doing their jobs after all the scandals involving policemen: the mysterious deaths of high-profile inmates in New Bilibid Prison during the pandemic, the abduction and robbery of sabongeros, illegal detention and murder of drug suspects, to mention some of these scandals.