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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Cebu prelate, rights office fret over 102 killings
CEBU CITY -- Pressure from the Cebu Archdiocese, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a lawyers' group and other sectors failed to sway Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to act on the vigilante killings that have claimed 102 lives in the past 11 months.
"I will not make vigilantes a priority over the welfare of the Cebuanos," Osmeña said Tuesday.
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal could not hide his dismay after reading Tuesday's papers that vigilantes have killed 102 persons since December 22.
Monsignor Achilles Dakay, archdiocesan media liaison officer, said the cardinal was mostly disappointed that people are not listening anymore, given the number of times Vidal condemned such killings.
But the mayor himself won't budge.
"So what can I say? What should be the priority? It's the Cebuanos who will decide. But our sources say crimes have dropped by 30 percent. I'm just doing something, telling criminals to move out of the city. I'm reluctant about doing something that will invite them here," the mayor said in a press conference.
Cardinal Vidal is urging the Catholic community to do their part in condemning the vigilantes, Dakay said, quoting the prelate.
"Why don't the lay organizations and the charismatic community rise up in arms against vigilantism?" Dakay said.
Pattern
The latest victim was Antonio Medina, 25, who was shot dead last Monday afternoon as he boarded a jeepney after he was released from police detention for drunkenness. He was gunned down just outside the gate of the Mobile Patrol Group headquarters on Arellano Blvd.
The attack followed a similar pattern as the other summary executions-motorcycle-riding men wearing helmets or masks approaching their targets and shooting them at close range.
At least two lawyers promised to take top police officials in Cebu City and the region to court for failing to solve the series of summary executions.
Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City chapter president Alex Tolentino and his predecessor, Democrito Barcenas, plan to file an administrative case for neglect of duty against Police Regional Office 7 Chief Eduardo Gador, Cebu City Police Office Chief Melvin Gayotin and Mayor Osmeña.
"With the present scenario, it seems the vigilantes are better than the police. In fact, the people are beginning to laud more the vigilantes than our policemen. I know a lot of good policemen, but the problem is in the leadership," Tolentino said.
He said he will ask the IBP board of directors to authorize him to file the administrative case.
For his part, CHR 7 Director Alejandro Alonso said it is "very disheartening" to see 102 people killed and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is yet to unmask and arrest the gunmen.
"(With the number of killings) there appears to be a culture of death in the city. It is already alarming," Alonso said Tuesday.
Preference
Acting CCPO Director Melvin Gayotin, in a separate interview, said the police is doing its best and is not remiss in its responsibility to solve the rash of killings.
He said it is unfair for them to be accused of tolerating the summary executions because they are doing what they can to identify and pin down the gunmen.
However, Alonso said he could not help but observe the police's preference in solving certain crimes, judging from the way they go after robbery suspects.
In reaction, Gayotin said they don't have any strong leads to pursue.
"We have no witnesses, no complainants. So, where do we start?" he said, adding that the community needs to help them in the investigation.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 faces the same dilemma. The agency started a probe into the murders last October upon orders of NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco.
"We are still waiting for any relatives of these victims to come forward. So far, there has been none," Ernesto Macabare, NBI 7 executive officer, said in an interview Tuesday.
The NBI, through an assigned agent, is keeping a list of all the executions in Cebu City. It is also keeping tabs on the medico-legal examinations done on the victims.
Categories
Although Mayor Osmeña did not say that vigilantes are effective in striking fear among criminals, he said he is "telling criminals to move out of the city."
He cited records at the CCPO that show 659 robberies happened in the first nine months of last year and just 454 this year.
The report categorized the robberies as holdup in public jeepney, holdup while walking, taxi holdup, holdups in cell phone shops, lending investors, banks and pawnshops, and burglaries.
Police records also show that 413 street holdups were carried out last year and 305 such crimes this year.
Osmeña admitted that City Hall is "not doing well" in terms of solving the vigilante killings and corruption at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center, but is good in addressing juvenile detainees, kidnapping and terrorism.
The mayor had said he may have inspired the vigilante killings after he announced last December 22 that he is creating an elite police force, now called the Crime Suppression Unit, to go after suspected criminals.
But Barcenas said Osmeña's statement "does not have a place in a civilized society."
"The maintenance of peace and order is the responsibility of the mayor and the police. By tolerating or failing to solve the series of murders, the mayor and the police should be blamed," Barcenas said. (JST/RHM/GN/JGA/KNR/Sunnex)
(November 9, 2005 issue)
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