Saturday, February 10, 2007
Editorial: Dead or alive
SOME sectors may brand North Cotabato Governor Manny Piñol's "get them, dead or alive...preferably dead" battle-cry against the 49 detainees who escaped from the provincial jail recently as a sign of desperation.
The visibly irate governor has in fact offered a reward of P20 thousand each for their capture. Dead or alive.
And why shouldn't the governor react in the way he has? Such an unusually large number of suspected as well as convicted criminals running loose in the countryside will certainly give upright citizens sleepless nights until all are rounded up and locked behind bars. Or end up six-feet under.
Included in that mix are murderers, rapists, robbers, drug pushers, alleged terror suspects -- the dregs of society -- who constitute a real threat to life, limb and property of law-abiding people who make up the bulk of society.
Governor Piñol has placed the blame on members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for allegedly orchestrating the mass jailbreak which, by the way, freed some of its members accused of having committed terror-bombing in the cities of Cotabato, Kidapawan and General Santos. After all, who else aside from the military, possesses grenade launchers, the main weapon used to blast a hole in the wall of the jail?
So far there have been no takers of the reward money, which means all the 49 escapees remain free. Nor has anyone of them been shot dead for resisting arrest, a culmination that would not cause Governor Piñol to lose sleep.
At the end of the day, lest some people forget: There are 49 jail escapees who need to be rounded up ASAP for the peace of mind of all law-abiding citizens in this corner of Mindanao. And should any, or all, of the escapees end up six-feet underground, well, that's "the way the cookie crumbles" as the saying goes.
Come to think of it -- a dead criminal is a good criminal.For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (February 10, 2007 issue)
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