DO YOU feel safe from lawless elements when you go around in Bacolod?

Let us put it this way. Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his frustration over the latest crime rate in the Philippines, saying it makes him feel useless.

Winning the top post in the country on a platform of ridding the country of crime and illegal drugs, he called on local chief executives and barangay officials to help him fight criminality saying he could not do the task by himself.

I see his point. Last week, I was on my home after a heavy downpour from a birthday party. Seeing no one there, I passed through the Bacolod plaza.

Seeing me alone, two women and emerge and walked beside, one from the right, one to the left. A man also approached me while another one kept his distance.

The two women hassled me, trying to act like pimps. But they squeezed me, trying to bait me with a sleaze job.

I ignored them. Finally, they let me go when. Only when I got to the jeepney when I realized my coin purse was missing. I checked my bag. Whoops, my two smartphones were no longer to be found.

When I filed a blotter report on the incident to Police Station 1, I was told there were similar cases before.

In another incident, I was warned by a friendly neighbor told me to stay clear of our walkway. There had been stories (rumors) of neighbors in our purok who had been held up.

In the office, our supervisor at the Philippine Mediation Center shared that a lady lawyer lost her cellphone inside a downtown mall.

So do we feel safe in the City of Smiles? I certainly do not.

Early this year, crime incidents in Bacolod City decreased by 34.38 percent, or by 77 incidents from February 1 to 20 this year compared to the same period in 2017.

Whew, the Bacolod City Police Office should do a better job. I salute them for their high visibility all over the place.

For some reason, these criminal elements are no longer fearful of the long arm of the law. After all, Cuadra Street is just a stone’s throw from the nearest police precinct. Our law officers should be able to arrest these suspects to serve as a warning to other lowlifes, if they want to win the trust and confidence that they’re on their toes.

(bqsanc@yahoo.com)