Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Editorials: A problem like Joavan
IT IS one thing to understand the ties that bind Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez with his adopted son Joavan and another to put up with Joavan’s antics.
Parents, especially in our setup, tend to shield erring children from consequences of the transgressions they commit—even at the expense of justice and public good.
But while Fernandez is a father, he is more so a public servant, and therein lies the conflict that will intensify and remain unresolved as long as Joavan refuses to change.
The public may have initially understood Brod Soc’s sentiment, considering also his well-known religious nature and gentle ways, but as abuses attributed to Joavan piled up, so too the respect for the mayor started to vanish.
The same goes to the Talisay police, whose previous actuation related to Joavan’s case was initially taken in the context of their being beholden to a mayor who is not about to let his adopted son fully answer for his acts.
Mockery
But the continued treatment of Joavan with kid gloves even as the list of the reported abuses grew places Talisay cops in a bad light, and their superiors even more so.
People can no longer put up with the mockery of the city’s peace and order effort.
The latest incident involves an allegedly armed Joavan and five companions, who took their victims from their workplace and mauled them outside his (Joavan’s) house.
And like in previous cases involving Joavan, the mayor rationalized his behavior and the Talisay police were cautious, if they did not side with Fernandez’s adopted son.
In this latest episode, a feeling of public helplessness has become observable, and many Talisay folk are asking when this will end, or if there can be an end in sight.
Solution
This is bad for Talisay, a city that has yet to prove it is deserving of the tag.
What is galling is that a solution to the problem is not difficult to obtain, as it involves only the authorities, in this case Fernandez and the Talisay police.
For the mayor, it is no longer a matter of whom to choose: Joavan or public good.
If he does not know the answer to that then he has no reason to stay in his post.
The same goes to the Talisay police and the police chief.
If they continue to be “overcautious” in incidents involving Joavan just because he is the mayor’s adopted son, then the ball is on the Cebu Provincial Police Office.
