Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Nalzaro: Blaming the police By Bobby Nalzaro Saksi
EVERY time persons with criminal backgrounds are killed gangland style, people tend to conclude it was perpetrated by the police or by vigilante groups. So-called human rights advocates immediately criticize the police for taking the law into their own hands. Is this because the police have an image of engaging in summary executions or salvaging?
While there have been cases of salvaging, it is also unfair to blame the police every time persons with criminal records are killed. Are they really that barbaric?
Four such killings wherein the victims had just been released from detention happened in the past months. Brando Babao, who was facing robbery and illegal possession of firearms cases, was shot and killed at the North Reclamation Area on board a taxi last year. He was just released from the Lapu-Lapu City Jail after he posted bail.
Rodolfo “Opong” Atega, a member of the Bohol Robbery Group, was just released from the new Cebu City jail after posting bail when he was ambushed while on board a taxi going to the pier area. Days ago, Recolly Igoy, a suspect in a bank robbery in Carcar City, was ambushed. An innocent driver died with him.
The most recent was the killing of three members of a bodol-bodol gang. Jose Mecias Magno and Medase Castro were just released from the city jail when the van they were in was ambushed. Magno's wife, Evelyn, allegedly a member of the group, was also killed. The van driver, Henry Comando, a retired air force soldier, was seriously wounded.
The common denominator of the killings was that the victims had just been freed after posting bail. But who ordered the executions? In the underground, there is such a thing as “piyaet must die.” Who knows if the perpetrators were companions in crime of the victims?
In the case of the bodol-bodol gang members, the police said those killed had a conflict with the other members of the group over the distribution of their loot. This was based on exchanges of text messages recovered by the police from the cell phone of one of the victims.
So why blame the police? Had they wanted to shortcut the process, the suspects could have mysteriously disappeared during their arrest.
Anyway, let this be a lesson to would-be criminals. If you decide to commit a crime or join a criminal syndicate, you should be ready to face death either from the hands of the police or from your fellow criminals. And if you are arrested do not post bail. It is safer inside the jail than outside.
