CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said three weeks ago that the city was not safe. He cited recent killings here. But deaths on the streets continue, with each incident adding to the anxiety.
The number of those killed on the streets rose even after Osmeña’s assessment and the subsequent police denial.
The killing of a policeman Monday, said to be related to an alleged attempt to kill a barangay official, was another death on the street. The policeman was said to have been killed by the barangay official’s companion to stop what appeared to them was an attempt to assassinate the barangay official.
But the narrative continues as well with Police Regional Director Debold Sinas naming Jessielou Cadungog, former Tejero barangay captain and now a Barangay Tejero councilor, as the primary suspect in the death of Police Officer 3 Alcuin Calumba.
Calumba reportedly shot at Cadungog’s vehicle but was killed when the barangay official’s companion shot back.
What aggravates the public unease is the dissimilar positions between the local civilian leadership and the police. They can’t agree on whether the city is safe or not; they can’t agree on who to believe or trust.
A common direction for the civilian and police leaderships can ease the people’s sense of anxiety and paranoia.
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There are few occasions when I am thankful for Facebook Live and one such instance was when I viewed through that platform the video honoring Cebuano literary legend Resil Mojares in a conference at the Ateneo de Manila University last Monday.
The conference “Bridging worlds, illumining the archive: An international conference in honor of Professor Resil B. Mojares” was organized jointly by the Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints at the School of Social Sciences in the Ateneo de Manila University and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University in Japan.
Mojares found it a “strange experience to speak in a conference dedicated to you,” and said the conference felt like a graduation where you come out at the top of the class and you are expected to give a valedictory address, or an event that marks one’s retirement. He said he never gave a valedictory address and, on the four ceremonies that he should have attended, he showed up in only one – his grade school graduation. As to retirement, he does not appear to be slowing down as he is finishing three books all at the same time.
“The simple truth I will take from today is that I have just been given a gift of recognition and respect. And for this I am sincerely grateful,” Mojares said.
Dr. Mojares is a multi-awarded author of some 20 books including “The man who would be president,” “Brains of the nation,” and “House of memory,” and numerous articles, essays and short stories. He is professor emeritus of the Cebuano Studies Center at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City. He used to write a Sunday column at the SunStar Weekend magazine.