UST a little more than a week ago, Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Chief Debold Sinas presented contrasting views on the peace and order situation in Cebu City. This followed shooting incidents in the Archbishop’s Palace, in Barangay Kalunasan and in Barangay Ermita, all in one day, that killed a mentally disturbed person, a barangay councilman and a child.
“Cebu is not so safe anymore,” the mayor said. The mayor referred to the incident involving councilman Roel Mabano, who was shot point-blank by a gunman in front of the Kalunasan barangay hall when he said: “Killers are not scared anymore. They just run, and bang!”
Sinas, of course, took a different tack, noting that “Cebu is still a safer place.” He reduced it to perception, or how a person views the spate of killings. “I think people are still better off living in Cebu City than live in Cotabato City.”
The contrasting assessments of the peace and order situation in Cebu will no doubt be resurrected following yesterday’s killings, this time in Talisay City. Art Stephen Bas was shot and killed by unidentified assailants on board two motorcycles on a portion of the Cebu South Coastal Road that passes the city.
Bas is the grandson of Talisay City Councilor Arturo Bas, whose son (and Art Stephen’s father) is former Lagtang barangay captain Mark Ferdinand Bas, who is out on bail after he was arrested in April after a search inside his house yielded a gun, a grenade and rounds of ammunition. He was linked to the illegal drug trade, a claim that City Councilor Bas denied.
An hour later, three inmates with alleged links to the slain druglord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz were ambushed by unidentified assailants riding seven motorcycles in Barangay Linao, also in Talisay City. They were on their way to a court hearing on board a Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) vehicle. The two BJMP escorts were not harmed.
The police will no doubt look into the shooting incidents in what can be considered a bloody day in Talisay City. And questions regarding the peace and order situation in the island will no doubt continue to be asked also.