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Thursday, December 30, 2004
Espinoza: Who is responsible?
By Elias L. Espinoza
HUNTED. The spate of unprovoked killings of Cebu City’s alleged underworld characters by unidentified gunmen raised the question if these were the handiworks of the hunter team that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced he would create.
But City Councilor Procopio Fernandez, who has become the mayor’s apologist, claims the hunter team is not yet in operation. (The team will be composed of police sharpshooters.)
Fernandez, chairman of the council committee on police, theorized that the killing of the five suspected robbers was a result of a vendetta. He instead passed the buck of blame to the victims of robberies.
Meanwhile, the mayor has remained mum on the issue.
Acting Cebu City Police Chief Melvin Gayotin, for his part, denied that the police had any hand in the deaths of those men, who, turned out, had criminal records or pending warrants of arrest.
“Ang among trabaho arestohon, dili patyon,” Gayotin said.
He is certainly right. It is the duty and obligation of the police to serve and protect the lives and properties of the citizenry. There is nothing in the oath of law enforcers that requires them to shoot first then ask questions.
If not for the blabber of the mayor, who prematurely and snootily announced his plan to create the hunter team, civil rightists and pro-life groups would not have entertained suspicions that the team is behind the recent killings.
While the silent majority, particularly the victims of crimes, may applaud the mayor’s move and praise him to high heavens for it, the mayor cannot avoid receiving flak from civil rights groups.
He can brag, though, that Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal did not criticize his plan publicly. Then again, the prelate did not exactly praise him for it either.
WILL. The number of firecracker blast victims last Christmas Eve rose from last year. This only shows that most of us have short memories by not learning the lesson from past celebrations.
Talking of firecrackers, Metro Cebu has probably the highest number of victims, which indicates laxity in the enforcement of laws. Firecracker blasts were heard few months leading to the holidays.
Davao City is perhaps the only metropolis in the country where firecrackers are banned during Christmas. The celebration may be quiet, but at least people are safe. The ban also did not certainly take from the spirit of the season.
Davao City Mayor Rudy Duterte’s philosophy is that with the ban, it will be easier to track down those who fire their guns during the holidays.
I suppose it is everyone’s wish to emulate Duterte’s political will. The people of Davao City are happy with their quiet celebration of Christmas and New Year.
To satisfy everyone’s quest for fireworks, the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Cebu could perhaps come up with a joint effort or commission a group to put up huge fireworks along the Mactan Channel where everybody could watch and see.
I am, of course, reminiscing and thinking of Sydney’s biggest and hour-long display of fireworks held at its famed harbor every midnight of Dec. 31. My wife and I have a wonderful experience watching that event in December 1992.
In Australia, no one can just light up a firecracker. One reason for this is that firecrackers are not readily available in stores.
(December 30, 2004 issue)
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