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Monday, July 01, 2002
EDITORIAL: Berroya relieved over wrong reason?
The other day, Sun.Star Cebu, in its editorial, commented, "If the sacking of seven senior officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were a publicity stunt by the Arroyo administration to boost its sagging popularity rating, then it failed badly.
"Generally, public reaction was more of a surprise rather than relief."
Chief Supt. Avelino Razon Jr., Sun.Star Cebu commented, should not have been sacked for his men's failure to stop jueteng but for the rise in property crimes in his area of responsibility.
What happened in Cebu is also true in Pampanga where one of those affected by the relief - Police Regional Office 3 Director Reynaldo Berroya - is based.
The relief, we repeat, was supposedly made because the seven police officials failed to stop the spread of illegal gambling, particularly jueteng in Luzon and masiao in the Visayas and Mindanao.
While the relief may be acceptable to some, the reason was not too convincing.
A police officer, who requested anonymity, noted the other day that stopping illegal gambling, like jueteng and video carrera, should be given full attention only after bigger problems, like robbery, have been curbed.
Indeed, while cases of robbery holdups, hijacking, kidnapping, etc. - crimes against properties and persons - have reached alarming proportions the police have done very little in these directions.
While attending to the series of robbery cases in the two cities and at least some eight other major towns in Pampanga should have been one of the proper targets of law enforcers, curbing these crimes have been relegated in the sidelines.
And thus questions arose over the sacking of Central Luzon's top PNP top gun, Berroya. Some say that he should have been made accountable for the upsurge of property crimes and not for jueteng.
Some PNP officials purportedly grumbled when the National Bureau of Investigation succeeded some months back in apprehending several jueteng bet collectors and cabos in the two cities of Angeles and San Fernando. And one of those who made the loudest protest was Berroya. He said then that the curbing of illegal gambling like jueteng was his responsibility and therefore raids in his turf are to be conducted only by the local police and upon his order.
Berroya's uproar over the NBI's raids, ironically, did not invite too much attention from the general public. People were so engrossed over the rise in property crimes so that the jueteng issue did not bother them so. But apparently, it invited that of the National Police Commission.
Perhaps by sheer coincidence after Berroya's takeover of PRO3, robbery incidents, including carnapping, rose. These were even concentrated along highways and in broad daylight. While there were criticism aired, such were concentrated on lower-ranked police officers because Berroya has always been perched too high up the ladder of the police hierarchy.
While we feel that Berroya's relief may have been correct we also feel that it was ordered for the wrong reason. |
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