|
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Editorial: Prove it is not Murder City
The banner headline of Sun.Star Cebu’s Nov. 8, 2005 issue has stung some people. The Regional Peace & Order Council for one asked that the tag Murder City be not used because it will ruin Cebu’s image.
There are others who think the paper irresponsibly abandoned restraint.
We totally disagree with the first and partly admit the second.
The murders in Cebu City already took 104 human lives.
Still far second to Davao City that chalked up 169 deaths for about the same period, but Cebu City’s record is no less shameful.
The serial killings testify to the failure of (1) the police to curb criminality by the use of lawful means, (2) the tolerance, even encouragement, from local officials regarding the crimes, and (3) the unwillingness of the community to rage against the culture of death and fight for the value of human life.
Sun.Star columnist Frank Malilong quoted a Filipino abroad as saying the summary murders attest to how badly run and how terribly managed law enforcement is in Cebu.
Former senator John Osmeña in a press statement wondered if the killings are “the result of a mind so debased and so unhinged that it looks at human life as nothing more than a piece of dirty rag.” (Translate that into Bisaya and the thought is even more chilling.)
Those who resent the use of “Murder City” would rather have the killings continue than taint Cebu’s name.
Image, appearance. Tell the world about tourist destinations, advances in communication and technology, boom in business and industry. Don’t show how barbaric we are in enforcing law and order.
Sun.Star emblazoned “Murder City,” set in type huge enough to qualify as “war head.”
It was deliberate, to jolt a public already insensitized by the stream of news about the murders and stories of police inability or unwillingness to solve them. Purposeful but not irresponsible.
Sun.Star editorials on the issue (see box) were numerous enough to sound the alarm and valid enough to refute any argument for the killings, yet staying calm to keep the debate above the issue’s noise and passion.
Still the murders have continued unabated, the hooded assassins and their conscience-dead bosses not minding the voices against the illegal and immoral executions.
Killers apparently don’t read editorials or listen to homilies. And those who hire them can’t be touched by media or church opinion.
But those who wield power, like the people who compose the regional peace and order councils, are more intelligent and caring. They know how much damage the murders have inflicted on the criminal justice system and they appreciate how much it has torn the moral fabric of the community.
That the Murder City name-calling prompted Cebu City Councilor Procopio Fernandez last Nov. 10 to deliver a privilege speech and the City Council to confront police officials about the crisis of law enforcement shows that shock treatment can also produce result.
It’s naive though to think that journalistic “excess” can end the killings, any more than it can destroy Cebu’s good name.
Broadcasters who use worse names on public officials and flog the breakdown of peace and order complain of talking themselves hoarse and being ignored.
Ricardo Cardinal Vidal is dismayed that government leaders don’t act on his appeal for sanctity of human life. He can only repeat himself so often and, no, it is not his nature to shout or be verbose.
Well, media can be loud and repetitive, on a dilemma that truly hurts public interest.
As to the worry about Cebu’s image, the best we can show to the world is that of a community that can curb crime in the way taught us by our laws and sytem, fighting crime with better police equipment and skill, not by the police or their assets becoming criminals themselves.
They resent the “Murder City” title? They can always prove that it is not. By ending the murders and prosecuting the killers and their masters.
(November 23, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
