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Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Nalzaro: Reward system
By Bobby Nalzaro
It looks like Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s decision to put up a reward for the capture of wanted members of two warring fraternities is paying off.
Two Tau Gamma Phi fraternity members with pending warrants of arrest have surrendered after City Hall announced the reward scheme. Warren Entera and Glen Codiñera said they voluntarily gave up for fear of their lives considering that the police and bounty hunters out for money are hot on their trail.
I am not really against the giving of rewards for the arrest of fugitives. But it has merits and demerits.
The merit: It will encourage ordinary citizens to provide information to the authorities on the whereabouts of wanted persons, thus leading to their arrest. Even relatives of the fugitives could turn on them in exchange for the bounty.
The demerit: It can make law enforcers ineffective and lazy. Why? Because they will no longer prioritize the capture of wanted persons whose heads do not carry any reward.
While law enforcers are not eligible for the reward, consider the corruption among law enforcement agencies. With that, they can still get a slice of the pie. Look at what happened to the reward government offered for the capture of Abu Sayyaf leaders responsible for the series of kidnappings and other notorious activities in Mindanao. Part of the bounty went to some corrupt military and police officers.
This reminds me of the story of my classmate, a former Moro National Liberation Front member, at the Ateneo de Zamboanga. He told me that when the Marcos government offered amnesty to Muslim rebels, he surrendered two times.
Actually, hundreds of Muslim rebels surrendered at that time. My former classmate received P20,000 as amnesty fee and another P10,000 in exchange for the rifle he turned over to the military. He was also given a college scholarship grant.
Months later, while he was busy attending to his little business in his hometown in Basilan before the opening of the school year, a military officer contacted him and facilitated his “surrender.” He was told he would be included in the list of Moro Islamic Liberation Front members set to surrender in Sulu.
My friend was instructed to look for another rifle to turn over during the surrender ceremonies. This time, though, the military officer told him he would only receive half of the P20,000 offered by the government to those who surrender and half of the amount paid for every gun turned over. My former classmate no longer bothered to ask for details. But I am sure half of the amount went to the pockets of corrupt military officers.
Indeed, my classmate “surrendered.” He inverted his name for documentation and wore a wig during the surrender rites.
(bgnalzaro@gmanetwork.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 15, 2006 issue)
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