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Thursday, March 16, 2006
Editorial: An ounce of prevention
WHAT wisecracks say about an ounce of prevention being better than cure is always applicable to Dumaguete City's increasing snatching and hold-up incidents that have lately turned violent.
Alex Sy, president of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (FCCC), hit the bull's eye recently when he said what businessmen and the community desired was a proactive, not a reactive, strategy to fight crime. He was talking during the turn-over of command of the Dumaguete City police force from Chief Insp. Emmanuel Hidalgo to Superintendent Dionardo Carlos.
Not that Sy was faulting the triple "S" initiative of the Philippine National Police (PNP), which Carlos declared as the centerpiece of his Dumaguete tour of duty. Triple "S", by the way, stands for a "safer" Dumaguete as the "show window' of the province, "solve" crimes, and "serve" the community better with a smile.
Like Sy, the community is not finding faults at the latest PNP strategy. And like Sy, the community is also optimistic that the new police chief would make all efforts to address the concern.
Carlos may be on the right track as others before him in fighting crimes, more so because he has a triple "S" to guide his campaign to secure the community from criminals.
But come to think of it, the strategy anchors mostly on improving the image of the PNP for pogi points. There is nothing by way of a concrete strategy, like increasing the number of policemen in the city police force to augment foot patrol and heighten visibility.
Mayor Agustin Perdices's P2 million pledge to help the city police force's anti-crime campaign is a welcome gesture and understandable. But, with a small force to secure the city's over 102,000 people and thousands of transients the city PNP would remain a lame duck. Money is not always the answer. In the case of the victims, it is always a question.
Sy is right. Victims could not be blamed for being indifferent and for refusing to pursue charges against suspects. Who wouldn't be when the fees for getting legal counsels and court proceedings are higher than the cost of a stolen cellphone?
Obviously, the lack of a preventive mechanism should be blamed for the audacity of the criminals.
On another perspective, Perdices may also be right when he quipped that crippling suspects by bullets or other means when caught in the act may be the proper response against and a good deterrent to crime. Human rights bleeding hearts may gnash their teeth at the thought.
But how would they feel if they were the victims!
(March 16, 2006 issue)
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