CRIMINALITY
MANILA, MARCH 7, 2012 (MANILA TIMES) THE call of Mr. Dante Jimenez,
president of the well-respected and -admired group, Volunteers Against Crime and
Corruption, must be taken to heart by Malacañang.
VACC said the administration of President Benigno Aquino 3rd has failed to
act on the rise of massacres and other crimes, enabling criminals to strike at
will against defenseless victims.
Mr. Jimenez said that as a result of government's inaction or helplessness
against the wave of criminality the Philippines could end up on the top of the
list of most dangerous countries and end up being called "the massacre capital
of the world."
The VACC cited a number of recent incidents to back up its contention that
the Aquino administration was doing nothing to make the Philippines safe for
residents.
Among these, in February alone, were the following: the massacre of a family
of four, including two children, in Quezon province; the massacre of six people,
including a 12-year-old boy, by 15 armed men in Zamboanga del Sur province, the
massacre of five persons, including an elderly couple, by a suspected drug
addict, in Aklan province.
In January, VACC said, four people were shot dead in Taguig City (Metro
Manila). Another another four were gunned down in Negros Occidental.
These killing sprees, according to VACC, equaled the murders committed by
motorcycle-riding killers in brutality and impunity.
Mr. Jimenez says this "phenomenon can be attributed to the loosening of [the
Aquino administration's] grip on peace and order. [President Aquino] could no
longer institute respect and fear of the law among criminals."
VACC calls on "the President to give more focus on the fight against crime."
Like movie Chicago-gangland country These past months, the TV news hour has
featured events as bloody as movies depicting America's Chicago gangland in the
1920s (when the Philippines was supposed to be enjoying "the peacetime" of being
an American colony 20 years after it was annexed by the USA after the
Philippine-American War and about 20 years before the Second World War).
The crimes have not been of the high-profile status as those that happened
years ago, as the Webb Murder case, and the relatively recent Maguindanao
Massacre that happened during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
But more alarming is the frequency of bloody episodes apart from massacres.
These include kidnappings of Filipinos as well as foreign residents, rough
snatching of handbags and cell phones, the violent death of men and women who
resisted their attackers, dugo-dugo scams, Abu Sayaff bombings, and of course
the murder of journalists.
Add to this the newly frightening phenomenon of child gangsters entering cars
stalled in traffic to hold up passengers and divest them of ther handbags and
jewelry.
Don't forget the murder of journalists The Philippines still counts as the
most dangerous place for journalists to be—despite its not being a war zone
where war correspondents are expected to end up being killed like soldiers.
Here journalists are done in by those they write exposes about.
Last January, on its anniversary, we wrote about the assassination of
environmentalist and journalist-broadcaster Dr. Gerry Ortega in Puerto Princesa
City, Palawan. Dr. Ortega fought despoilers of Palawan's unique natural beauty
and environmental purity. He was shot to death by assassins against whom, and
against their alleged mastermind, the authorities seemed to have amassed solid
evidence.
Dr. Ortega and nine other activists in the struggle for the protection of the
ecology are, so far, the Aquino administration's contribution to the lengthening
list of 51 defenders of the environment martyred since 2001.
This means about 18 percent of all the 51 human rights murders of
environmentalists in the last 10 years happened during the less than two years
that President Aquino has been in power.
What happened since 2011? The VACC complaint and the National Union of
Journalists, the Ortega family's and our own lament about the murder of
journalists, seem to fly in the face of the end of 2011 report of the Philippine
National Police.
The PNP said that despite the large number—more than 248,000— of crimes
reported in 2011 the trend was supposed to be downward.
The 248,378 crimes reported in 2011 were less by 23.36 percent than the
crimes committed (324,0893) in 2010. And there were two times more crimes
reported in 2009 (502,665) than in 2011.
The PNP said the decrease in 2011 crimes was because of the strict
implementation throughout the country of "the police integrated patrol system."
This system calls for the presence of police supervisors in barangays
(villages). This led to the early resolution of petty crimes owing to the close
cooperation of the public with barangay officials and tanods.
So what happened from December 2011 to February 2012? Did the integrated
patrol system disintegrate?
PNP Chief's action priorities Meanwhile, the public can take comfort from the
"action priorities for PNP directorial staff" issued by PNP Chief Director
General Nicanor A Bartolome.
To the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, PNP Chief
Bartolome has given these instructions and directives with the following goals,
among others:
+ Reduction of National Index Crime Rate from baseline of 16.53 in 2010 to
14.92 in 2012 through implementation of different anti-criminality campaigns and
crime solutions programs in full coordination with Directorate for Operations
(DO).
+ Promotion of Rights-based Policing by establishing human rights help desks
in all PNP units, cascading of human rights training program to dialogues with
stakeholders.
+ Implementation of e-blotter system which is fully implemented in Region 4A,
Tarlac, Cebu and Butuan Police Provincial Offices. By 2012 all PNP units will be
interconnected with e-blotter system with the help of Directorate for
Information Communication and Technology Management (DICTM).
+ Empowerment of police patrol officers on the ground by allowing access to
information from databases necessary in the conduct of police operations such as
PAIS, Firearms Information System, etc.
Still, Mr. Dante Jimenez is right. The President and DILG Secretary Jesse
Robredo must do something about the rising criminnality problem.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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