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Friday, November 11, 2005
Editorial: Nearly fatal
THE nearly fatal confrontation between Bukidnon Gov. Jose Maria Zubiri and a man who claimed to be an official of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (Armm) showed to all and sundry that the security situation in the city is not as impervious as many are led to believe.
Were it not for the intervention of cooler heads the governor, who was entertaining foreign guests inside an establishment at the time, could have been hurt or worse, killed along with his guests.
As of press time, it had yet to be verified whether the Armm figure identified as a certain Makoy Malawani is connected with the regional office if any. And even if he is Malawani certainly has no right to bear arms at a public place since he's no law enforcement official.
During his "Kuskos Batikos" program over at Radio Mindanao Network-dxCC (RMN-dxCC), opposition Councilor Zaldy Ocon read an ordinance, which stated that those bearing firearms should deposit them at the police precinct before entering a public place--or words to that effect.
The incident between Zubiri and the Armm official had shown that this ordinance is of no effect though one can reason that the incident, probably the first major security lapse that occurred during the watch of City Police Director Supt. Aurelio Trampe, thankfully didn't result in anything tragic.
But it's not as if encounters in a public place like the one that befell the Bukidnon governor is anything new. Drunk police officers or soldiers have been known to get itchy trigger fingers and blast each other to kingdom come, like the one that happened between a police officer and a private of the Fourth Infantry Division (4th ID) in a club recently.
That police officer, PO3 Roger Enguito, went back to active duty after shooting down Private Kaypee Salindab, who reportedly got unruly in a club because he was allegedly tipsy.
While City Police Director Trampe said he may be able to defend his people's actions as in the case of Enguito he may take some time to explain why public establishments like the one Zubiri happened to be in failed to help enforce security measures--even if these places are privately owned and managed, the city police are expected to help keep the peace more so if it involves visiting public officials.
Trampe may get a reprieve from this impasse from more forgiving quarters but certainly not from those who have set high expectations on his leadership. The backlash would be especially felt if anything untoward happened to Zubiri or his foreign guests.
From this incident it is hoped that the city government takes a closer look at how security is being implemented in public places.
(November 11, 2005 issue)
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