THE police has a spate of unfinished businesses in 2019. By “unfinished,” it is presumed they are “working on them” and we will eventually see results.
Reports said the Police Regional Office Central Visayas has ordered a review of high-profile cases in Cebu.
Remember how bloody the year opened with two major ambushes in January: the killing of Fiscal Mary Ann Castro on Jan. 17, and the ambush of San Fernando Mayor Lakambini Reluya in Talisay City on Jan. 22, which killed her husband Ricardo “Nonoy” Reluya Jr. and their two companions.
On June 18, masked men in full battle gear efficiently killed Medellin Councilor Ricardo Ramirez who was in confinement in a private hospital. A bit earlier, on May 21, men on a motorcycle shot dead Capt. Delfin Bontuyan in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Late this year, a van-full of armed men riddled Clarin, Misamis Occidental Mayor David Navarro with bullets on Oct. 25. He was on his way to undergo inquest proceedings over a spat with a massage attendant.
In the first quarter of this year alone, SunStar Cebu counted 46 incidents with 59 killed. Most of these killings were effected in broad daylight, in the city’s busy intersections. Bontuyan’s daughter Christine Claire, Barangay Talamban Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson, is right about these killings being an affront to the police organization.
“When an active policeman is shot a few meters away from a police station and in broad daylight to top it all off, that should be construed as a big slap to the Philippine National Police. Why? Because it means whoever pulled the trigger was not afraid of the police,” the young Bontuyan said.
But these killings are an affront to the Cebuanos at large, and yet we do not hear our officials with strong words condemning the violence in our midst. We do not hear any of them putting pressure on the police organization to solve these cases.
We conclude the year with hardly any answer to all the questions in our heads. We will continue to ask in 2020. To hold accountable those who failed in the task of ensuring a safer Cebu. Whole-of-nation approach? Media’s part in that equation is vigilance.