Monday, February 12, 2007
Editorial: Reward money paying off
THE decision of North Cotabato Gov. Manny Piñol to put up reward money for the capture, dead or alive, of the 49 inmates who escaped from the provincial jail recently is beginning to reap dividends.
One week (last Saturday) after the 49 were freed by an armed group, allegedly including some elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), only 46 remain unaccounted for after a military posse caught up with three of them, killing one and capturing the other two.
Gov. Piñol had put up P20,000 for the capture of each of the 49, or a hefty total of P980,000 if all are captured -- dead or alive. However, it's been reported that Piñol upped the reward to P50,000 for the first escapee who was killed, Indong Taligapen, who faced charges of murder and frustrated murder.
Meanwhile, there's still a long way to go to finish the job. The escapees are dangerous men who realize that the reward monery put up on their heads will tempt a lot of takers to go the extra mile to earn extra money in these hard times.
When the going gets tough for the fleeing inmates, they may even opt to leave North Cotabato and spread out to other parts of Mindanao where they will have a better chance of escaping detection. That will make it more difficult for the government to round them all up even as they find themselves back in circulation in communities where they are not recognized and restart their criminal activities.
Who knows but that one, two or three of them may even now be in Davao City and on the lookout for their next victims? That's a chilling scenario.
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (February 12, 2007 issue)
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