Monday, September 15, 2008 Mongaya: Criminality By Anol Mongaya
I WOKE up this morning to learn that a neighbor a stone’s throw away from our house here in Carmenville, Talisay City, became a victim of an akyat-bahay group.
“What happened to the police patrol?” I asked. A few days ago, our household woke up surprised that we had no electricity. I later discovered somebody stole the wire that linked our power supply to the mainline at the post across the street. The policeman who responded to my call promised to push for a roving patrol at our village owing to rampant similar incidents. Just the other weekend, most households in our neighborhood lost our land line dial tones when a gang stole PDLT cables from three different locations.
Unfortunately, no police patrol materialized at our neighborhood. If there was, the thieves just ran circles around them.
I don’t think Mayor Soc Fernandez can help us. He cannot even control his own adopted son Joavan. I can only imagine the mayor asking us to rely on our guardian angels like the one who he believed helped his blacksheep son.
But then, the Talisay City police are at least good in one thing. They came up with a self-serving report that hid the increase in incidence of crime from the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) and its chairman Gov. Gwen Garcia last Friday.
I hope Gov. Garcia would also direct her ire at the mayor and the incompetent bunch they call policemen in Talisay City.
***
Mayor Jonas Cortes is right on target when he said he will fire his police chief right away after that report on the rising crimes in Mandaue City at the RPOC. The report caught the mayor by surprise demonstrating his ignorance of the real crime situation as he sat contented with his assignment of 29 government vehicles to the police.
Unfortunately for the mayor, while he can very well demand for a replacement of Senior Supt. Rodel Calungsod now, he cannot escape command responsibility. He cannot even use his usual scapegoat — the opposition majority at the City Council — and the propaganda war that brought to the public eye the activities of his Kabanay.
Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna has suddenly become active in telling people what the Council has approved like the request for projects worth P1 million per barangay for the 27 barangays but Mayor Cortes has failed to implement. The barangay projects could, in the long term, improve the lot of poor folks at the grassroots and thus help in crime reduction.
To gain the initiative, Mayor Jonas Cortes should instead meet the crime situation head on. After replacing Calungsod, he should conduct surprise inspections at the police stations and demand for police visibility in crime prone areas. He could even lead police saturations drives. But before this, he should finally convene the local peace and order council, something that he has neglected to do since he assumed office.
Most important, Mayor Cortes should get rid of his Kabanay at the Mandaue City Hall.
What’s wrong with the Kabanay? One, they meddle in the affairs of the departments they are assigned to without accountability. Two, they engage in internal Kabanay bickerings that resulted in unimplemented projects despite the budget releases by the opposition-led Council. As the joke goes, Jonas is like the stirring wheel of a car with three drivers who could not agree on where to go.
Perhaps the Kabanay members think Jonas needs their guidance maybe because of his slow learning curve at managing Mandaue City. But after two years of mentoring, they have become anvils tied around his neck.
***
While he is still in office, Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz urged Senior Supt. Calungsod to double his efforts at arresting the growth in crime incidence rather than washing his hands in public. The congresswoman is right, after the police received the 29 vehicles from Mayor Cortes, he has no business blaming the lack of mobility for his failures.
***
Local immigration officials should look closer at the activities of a German national who had been accused of landgrabbing in Alcoy. As of the moment, Juergen R. Rilling had ignored summons by the barangay court displaying disdain for Philippine laws. He allegedly had been using an invalid deed of sale in occupying land he does not own. The said document had no signature of a witness, no mention of a passport number and did not identify the one who sold the land. While we welcome foreign investors, we should also be wary of foreigners who abuse our hospitality.
***
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile is obviously playing favorites as chairman of the Senate appropriations committee. While he allowed the insertion of the controversial P200 million double budget for Senate President Manny Villar’s “road to nowhere,” he sat on the requests of other senators for additional appropriations for more worthy endeavors. Sen. Mar Roxas for instance asked for the realignment of P500 million to buy medicines under the Cheaper Medicines Act but Sen. Enrile has not acted on the request.
(Check out my blog at www.inbetweencolumns.wordpress.com)
