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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Editorials: From inspiring to defending
What exactly does Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña think of extrajudicial killings in the city?
One can only have an idea of that from what he says and does.
Earlier, he admitted he has inspired vigilantes, giving their crimes the least priority.
Result: zero police performance---more than 160 people killed since December 2004 with not one case solved.
Mayor Osmeña is a public official sworn to uphold the law, including the law against murder.
In a sense, he has already violated oath of office because vigilantism, which he says he has inspired, uses criminal and violent methods.
Backlash
But then, these days, who prosecutes anyone for preaching a belief, illegal or immoral as it can be, unless the gospel seeks President Arroyo's overthrow?
Last June 2, the mayor went further than inspiring the vigilantes. He virtually defended the killings by crediting them for keeping peace and order.
Stop the murders and there will be a "severe backlash." According to the mayor, that will come "if they make it appear that all the criminals are safe here in Cebu. Patay gyod ta (we're dead for sure)."
So he will not order the police, the mayor said, because it will mean he tolerates the activities of the criminals.
His logic is that the serial murders of crime suspects is what makes criminals believe that it is not safe to operate in the city. He doesn't tolerate criminals, yet he tolerates the assassins who execute suspects of petty crimes.
Is that not clearly (1) abdication of the mayor's duty to uphold the law, (2) admission of helplessness in keeping peace and order if they use regular police methods under the criminal justice system, and (3) advocacy of lawlessness by using crime to stop crime?
The mayor's argument cannot stand because it is not true. The fact is the extrajudicial murders have not kept criminals away.
Burglars, snatchers, and drug couriers---principal victims of the protected killers---have continued to operate. Check your neighborhood.
Worse
Strong evidence is that executions have gone on, which can only mean the mayor's solution has not worked, unless, horror, he wants them to go on forever.
Americans have expressed concern over breakdown of democratic process. But what did the mayor say to the idea of stopping extrajudicial murders? He warned: "Do you think America will save us?"
The problem can be worse than what the US thinks.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 7, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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