Psychology of Impunity

by Alex Siegfrid Padilla, OD Senior Columnist

I have always wondered what goes through one’s mind to kill.

How cold-hearted one must be to resort to that method. Is it ruthlessness or is it just plain desperation? In the absence of due process, I am afraid that these questions will seem impossible to answer. 

But would it hurt to assume then? The Philippines begins to be riddled with questions but with too few answers. 

Answers too few, nine years too late.

The Drug War Truth Commission started its public hearings on extrajudicial killings (EJKs) last Friday, August 14, 2026. Their first case, a 19-year-old male victim with a clubfoot disability. He was abducted and killed by armed men in Navotas on March 29, 2017, the peak of the past administration’s war on drugs.

It only took hours until the family was informed of his death. 

Hours. 

How quick it was to kill during that grim period in the Philippines. To me, it showed desperation – desperation to find a quick fix in the drug menace plaguing the country. After all, one cannot just fix such problems within six months.

How easy it was to kill then. The very same people who are meant to ‘protect and serve’, were also the same people to cover up such killings. The 19-year-old’s mother, a.k.a Luz, alleged that a police officer offered her help to obtain justice by creating a false narrative. These were not just random, coincidental killings. These were systematic.

I continuously wonder what goes into one's mind to take a life; and how easy it is for Filipinos to justify said killings. The past administration has done little to nothing but to fuel desperation in the country for both sides. Desperation of the citizens to end crime that they resort to violent methods, and the desperation of the (collateral) victims for justice. 

It is very scary how the Philippines has adopted a culture of impunity propagated by the very same ones in power. 

Nevertheless, maybe the answers are within reach. As the Truth Commission begins its public hearings, the truth we longed for will be uncovered. Not for the sake of demonizing anyone or to proclaim a good or bad side, but to relieve a country of a wound that it cannot heal. 

With these hearings commencing, maybe now, I will no longer have to wonder about the psychology of one to kill.

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