Cebu City's increasing criminality: A choice of solution - Due Process (The Old status quo) or Vigilantism (New Adventure)

Thursday, January 13, 2005

[Cebu City today is again at a crossroad. The present mayor, a person I used to admire for his no-nonsense approach to governance, has set off a very divisive issue. He wants to create a "Hunter Team" to hunt down criminals and bring down the incidence of crime in Cebu. While at it, a vigilante group has surfaced and already it has claimed 14 snatchers/robbers. Is this approach appropriate?

What follows is a string of e-mail messages written by acquaintances and some of my officemates who reflect the varied sentiments of Cebuanos regarding this issue. Some of the messages are mine. You may add yours by pressing the "comment" link below.

Please scroll down to the bottom to find the first thread so you won't get lost. Cheers!]

My friend, Emi, forwarded this e-mail written by a certain "Ogie." This is the first thread.

Cebu City's increasing criminality: A choice of solution - Due Process (The Old status quo) or Vigilantism (New Adventure)

The subject title has Cebu City as the venue of increasing criminality. NOT the province, NOT the whole Philippines, and certainly NOT the world. The venue is Cebu City, and Cebu City is unlike any other city in the province, in the Philippines and in the world. Thus, being unlike any other whatever resolutions we need to do to any of its needs MUST be specific, tailor-designed for Cebu City and not another city in Cebu province, in RP and in the world.

I have to emphasize this as the conflicting opinions on the issue seem to forget that we are only concerned with Cebu City and no other. They all tend to impress/impose the idea that what WORKED with other cities WILL WORK in Cebu City; AND that what the alleged Tom's Vigilantes are doing is harmful for us Cebu City dwellers, to the rest of the country and to the whole world.

Penal laws work on a general basis and it is made to be. Their application depends on the peculiar circumstances of the crime, and strictly speaking no two crimes are the same; for that matter no two criminals are the same. In the process of applying the law, more often than not it is in the determination of the varied circumstances of the crime that makes our justice system slow, sometimes impossible to apply and render justice in time.

In Cebu City, our justice system, no matter whose political wills are behind it, is slow in dispensing the vaunted, democratic and constitutional "due process." To the overwhelming majority, this slowness is no longer conducive to "due process." Overdue "due process" is never the means of/toward an effective justice system.

Long delays are equated to non-delivery, a failure in the justice system; it prevents "due process" from fruiting true justice.
Overdue "due process' is justice denied and so our Cebu City "due process" remains unappreciated by its people, opening minds towards other means of getting justice - extrajudicial, such as vigilantism.

Since the killings began, the noticeable silence (deafening?) of the people towards the Hunter Team's (HT) intent - to eliminate criminals without due process - seemed to be Tom's vindication or his inspiration to continue the work of the HT. There too, is the crime stats that show reduction. There also are several opinion makers supporting vigilantism.

Although it appears that the CC Council, Cardinal Vidal and some members of the democratic press are opposed to the idea, their opposition appears to be centered on what is generally good for the larger many. At any rate, we cannot discount the slow response of the CC Council as not appearing to be "initially agreeing" and upon the passage of time, with the council members perhaps noting that the crime rate had dropped, under a "NEW CIRCUMSTANCE," it called for a stop.

How sincere is the Cardinal in his desire to put a stop to this type of meting justice? Granting that Cebu and Davao have similar circumstances, did we ever hear the good Cardinal campaign openly, continuously, in Davao City, where it is estimated that at the height of its Death Squad rampage, it was dispensing with an average of 15 criminals a month?

You know at one time, some six years ago, the Cardinal was so mad, so frustrated, so confused about an indirect criticism - an insinuation that he was a drug user (for his illness) hurled at him by activist Edward Ligas. It got him so sick to stay in bed and out of the media's probing eyes for a good two weeks and it got him to accuse Ligas of an irresponsible act even while he was still sick and weak. The good Cardinal actually criticized Ligas. It was only later that he relented his immediate "vindictive" (as I took it) response. Well, that was just for a minor offense. What of the several instances in the past that the Church supports killing of competing faith believers? What of Rome's support of Hitler and his wasteful act against the Jews? How would the good Cardinal react if he was made the object of their criticisms? Anyway, would his voice be heard? Hay, out of context man tingali ni?

Media, as Tom said, can hype one nuts and often leaves one guessing where it really stands on sensitive issues. We know pretty well of its propensity towards bias - to its owners and advertisers. For pure public interests? We all know the answer to that very well.

One criticism I have when these people advances their position, they make the people think that they have the people's say and the monopoly on the say-so. They make society think that they can make judgments for them. Can they? Really? They don't even consult.

Unlike me, I have my taxi drivers and co-jeepney passengers to poll. He-he. But really, have they done any consultations with the people?
They don't want to, because they know that they will be rebuked.

I heard from practically all that I talked to, from their very mouths (not one priest though), that the HT is a blessing and a necessity today here in Cebu City. You may not have noticed it but the grounds were tested two weeks (14 days and 14 criminals dead) prior to the HT's official creation. This means, the public's pulse was first determined. Because the measured pulse was found agreeable, then the HT had to be made official, as it is now. You may think I am only guessing, but I give you that privilege to indulge in what you believe.

Mine may be a guess, anyway, here is another one (I am on a guessing roll): With the HT, Tom O wants not only these (petty) criminals that have been harassing his general public's comfort to understand that they can't forever play their crime games in his city without getting paid back in kind (hit) by his followers or by him, but also wants Ecleo and similar crazed persons like him never to attempt to do him in because he can strike back and even be (offensively) pre-emptive with devastating effect. I have a sneaky suspicion that one of Tom's motivations (if not primary) for his HT is to send this particular message to Ecleo, for the reason that his HT idea came after the arrest of Ecleo's alleged Hit Team in Lapulapu city, a day before he was scheduled for a CPRA awarding ceremony in that city. Ecleo's Hit Team (EHT) is only about 10. Tom's Hunter Team (THT) is 25. Tom knows the power of numbers, eh? Say, isn't it uncanny how Tom's "H" in THT turned out to be "Hunter" instead of "Hit." Don't they actually stand for the same thing? Hmm."H" to hunt criminals and assassins, eh?

THT. hmm, Tom's official personal protection, no? AND WHY NOT? About time, eh? What with the criminality this high up above one's head (pero dugay na noon ni, unya ang threat ni Ecleo bag-o pa gyud sa???? Por eso???) and Ecleo's fan-atics roaming freely around Cebu City? I say, "Go ahead, Tom! Go to it! Protect yourself and you protect us, too!" I say, anytime, this is not a bad deal. Tom is the best mayor we ever had. I should do all my best to protect him. By doing so, I, one of his constituents, am also buying myself protection.

Anyway, back to my circumstance justification thesis. The only justification that can be used for the continued existence of the THT or effectively used against it is the data that is still forthcoming from its actual work. In the absence of this data we cannot be certain neither can we be sure that the THT will not work.

What we have NOW are speculations ONLY, no hard evidence, as to its effectiveness or factual performance. Guessing in this particular endeavor will not work for us. What we need to do, is what Tom is doing - we need to wade in and get wet.

As I said our circumstance is peculiar, and so we cannot make any trending or parallel from similar places like Davao and Digos. We need to have our own factual data. Only then may we (likely) be certain. For now, I say, let the HT function as envisioned by Tom, mindful of the cautions thrown in by the alleged "moral thinkers-makers" of Cebu, our country and the world, even if these moral thinkers-makers are only alleged; in fact they are not the DOERS, they are not our EXECUTIVES (not even the members of the CC Council that we elected as legislators).

Of the collateral damage? Hey, again, let the facts that will surface in due time, on the whole, validate or invalidate the HT. Besides, who can be very careful? Not even the superpower USA and its super-sophistry in arms, equipment, etc. (take Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Irag, its police, SWAT, FBI, CIA.)..Besides, too, you know very well the collateral damage of our tried and usual "due process." BTW, have we thought of counting the collateral damage in its wake? If we did, there will be an opportunity to make comparisons as the HT progresses in its task. When finally we are able to make a comparison, I will venture to guess, that the real collateral HT damage, with all factors considered, is very much less, or even negligible.

I have said a mouthful already, but allow me a few last words to the hunted: "Pack up and Do (or Change) your THING elsewhere!"