Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Carvajal: Same savagery, different weapons By Orlando P. Carvajal Break Point
A first class city like Cebu does not have a comprehensive plan to prevent and fight crime. No wonder they cannot find witnesses for vigilante killings.
They never sat down to figure out how to deal with this contingency.
No wonder that when a policeman answers a call of nature he goes to a motel. There is no written plan that tells him he should go somewhere else.
No wonder I have yet to see a police car stop for a red light. There is no written plan that they should give a good example to us citizens.
The plain and simple fact is that the police in Cebu City are just winging it. In local parlance it’s called oido. Meanwhile, the body count on vigilante killings is rising and the solution is nowhere in sight. Same excuse, no witness.
But did it ever occur to them to ask why witnesses are not coming forward only in the case of vigilante killings? Why there are enough witnesses for the other killings like Jojo de la Victoria’s, for instance?
Or is it perhaps that summary killings by vigilantes is the heart of their plan to rid Cebu City of petty criminals except that it cannot be written for obvious reasons? Is that why they are just eyeballing the situation and not addressing it like professionals?
In business you cannot survive without a plan. The irony of it all is that business learned planning from the military. Modern business management, specifically planning, started with the military because of the precision needed in the timing and the logistics of a military operation. That’s why they have Oplans, short for operational plan. But not Cebu’s finest, it would seem. I hope to God they have one for the Asean summit.
Now the policemen complain that they were treated like school kids by the City Council. To my mind the public should complain that that’s all the treatment the police got for gross incompetence. They deserve worse treatment for a very shoddy, unprofessional job of preventing and solving crimes in the city.
Which reminds me, just what were Vice Mayor Rama and the councilors trying to do? Surely they’re not naïve enough to think the police will tell them who is or who are behind the killings? So what was all that questioning about?
I’m sorry but I think it was pure grandstanding because nothing worse than a scolding happened to the policemen and surprisingly Mayor Tommy Osmena did not blow his top and complain about usurpation of authority.
Cebu City’s exterior is looking very good for the summit. But Cebu City is losing its soul. It is losing its soul to one or some who are acting like gods and deciding who in this city shall live and who shall die. It practically sets us back to the Stone Age. Same savagery, different weapons.
