A crime wave's on! Does P-Noy care?

“Even Satan will be horrified!”

Thus exclaimed the father of a carjack victim whose body was burned beyond recognition and dumped in Nueva Ecija. It was not the only horror story of the past two days this week. Another man was similarly killed and the body dumped in Pampanga after he took some men who expressed an interest to buy his car on a test drive.

Horrible as these two cases are, what worries ordinary citizens are common crimes that happen everyday and our police can do nothing more helpful than to log the report in the police blotter for insurance purposes. The thing is, no one believes the police is that helpless. In fact, if you ask people, a good number will say the police is involved in crime one way or the other.

It doesn’t help citizen confidence that a number of police officers were acting like criminals in recent weeks. One raped a suspect inside the police department’s integrity office. A number of them belonging to the QC Police’s narcotics division were presented as suspects in a multiple murder/kidnap case while wearing their police uniforms.

One wonders where is USec Rico E. Puno? He is supposedly the expert in police matters for P-Noy.

Before the May election, P-Noy said something to the effect that he and Mar Roxas will divide the work. Everything that requires a brain that is capable of conceptual thinking like the economy is delegated to Mar. Everything that involves a gun such as the police and the military is P-Noy’s territory.  

After the elections, P-Noy directed Jesse Robredo to only concern himself with local government matters as DILG head. All police matters is the territory of Rico Puno, his bosom buddy. But lately, Robredo, maybe to fill a void, has had to reassure the public that scalawags in uniform will be dealt with. Again, where is Rico E. Puno?

Now, even the SUV of a cousin of Mar Roxas was reported to have been stolen. Hindi naman siguro kagagawan yan ng Samar group but it doesn’t look good.

Just in case P-Noy doubts that the citizenry is worried about a crime wave, here is a compilation of comments among many of my friends on Facebook.

Someone posted this status: Carjackings, robberies, murders and break-ins on the rise...be careful everyone...

Here are some of the responses it got:

If you park along Visayas Avenue be careful in leaving things inside your vehicle. I was just out of range for five minutes and bukas kotse gang got everything inside my vehicle including things of no use to them. Problem PNP is so inutile! And the barangay in the area was of no help.

Oh my. a friend had same experience a month ago on West Avenue... near Starbucks. Parking area is well lighted and guarded pa.

 Pati nga my notebook where I jot down notes kinuha. Make up kit tinangay, my whole bag with wallet, cards and everything, 2 laptops because we just came from a briefing of a client ha. I just stopped to check on my beagle who was rushed to the Vet. Grabe!

Go Ivy, share it so everyone is informed.

It was an old Fiera with 2 guys pretending nasira sasakyan nila. They opened the hood tapos tapak ng tapak sa gasolina kaya di narinig ang pagbasag ng window sa likod ng driver. And I decided to drive myself this time kaya di ko kasama driver ko. Talagang sandali lang. Well lighted and lugar, nasa harap ng gate ng vet, may Ferino’s bibingka sa left side at sa right naman ay Tapa King at Pizza Hut. Kaya ingat. Hear Gaita Fores’ vehicle was carnapped in Makati, Ano ba naman!

Yes, I heard about Gaita’s carjacked SUV. And one of those guys killed by carjackers and burned turns out to be a friend of a friend. This is getting too close to home....

Tita, wala na talagang pinipili...well lighted at guarded o sa dilim. Lesson learned: 1) huwag laging handa ang bag nating kababaihan na lahat ilalagay mo; 2) huwag magdala ng laptop na iiwan mo sa kotse kahit 60 sec ka lang na mawawala; 3) huwag ilagay sa isang wallet ang lahat ng cards – gov’t issues, air mileage, credit cards, etc.

Ang profile daw na tinitingnan e kapag babaeng bumaba sa sasakyan at bihis at walang dalang bag, ibig sabihin iniwan ang bag sa kotse.

Authorities? Wala lang. Gumawa lang ng police report para sa insurance ng sasakyan ko. Nagulat sa daming nawala at nagkwento pa na previous to my experience a DENR director lost his gov’t issued laptop. Bumaril na sa ere yung guard ng establishment dahil huli sa akto pero tinutukan sila... wala silang nagawa...total breakdown na ata ito!

Beware of Connecticut Street as well. A friend of mine lost his backpack and laptop while parked in front of a restaurant a few months back. In full view of security guards who did nothing about it!

It’s alarming how murderous these carjackers have become.

Kilala naman ng pulis yang mga yan ang tanong bakit di hinuhuli? Imagine they told me that this syndicate has guns, professional glass cutting device and night vision goggles (to see through a heavily tinted vehicle)! Nagcomment pa yung pulis na tiba-tiba sila Mam sa inyo, maganda ang pasko nila! Now I am thinking of bearing arms and I will oppose Drilon’s bill banning private individuals from bearing arms!

Maite, the cry of the father: “Mr. President what’s happening to our country?” is something that keeps repeating in my mind.

Carjackers on a rampage, and the cops can’t seem to do anything about it!

This is getting to be scary. Perhaps now we could request whoever is in charge of the police to speak up and tell us what is being done. Security of the populace is the principal responsibility of government. Talk to us NOW.

Because of the spike in carjackings, I now want a gun. We have criminals in police uniforms, criminals and cops who are either too stupid, too lazy or too dishonest. If the police can’t protect us, we the common people are DEFENSELESS. And we have a right to defend ourselves.

It is unbelievable, as someone commented, that the police do not know who these criminals are. It is their job to know. That’s what police intelligence is all about. When I covered the police beat in my early days as a journalist, the police in the old Manila Police Department seem to have more intelligence than the current crop.

The idiotic thing is, a former cop of a congressman delivered a privilege speech urging Congress to help the police repair their bad image. Only the police can fix their bad image and they can only do it by assuring the security of the public. This is not a job for the PR man. This is a job for real professional police officers.

And please, don’t give us police statistics of doubtful validity that the crime rate has gone down. People don’t even bother to report crime anymore because nothing happens and worse, the criminals are in uniform and that puts victims in real serious jeopardy.

There is no doubt that there are very many good cops who are even heroic like that Pasay City officer who was almost killed by his fellow Quezon City officers. But unless the good ones expose and expunge the bad eggs from their ranks, the rotten image will remain. If the good cops don’t know who the bad cops are, they have no business being cops.

People may forgive P-Noy if he says something stupid about the Supreme Court, the economy or foreign affairs. But because he himself said that he and Rico Puno are responsible for the police, he is even now, being measured on this basis.

And yes, this being a business column, bad peace and order is bad for business, bad for investments, bad for everybody. No amount of investment incentives will attract investors, local or foreign, if their personal security is always at risk.

A Crime Wave’s On! Does P-Noy care? I hate it that I am starting to miss Ping Lacson. At least in his time, you knew someone is in charge.

Police Hotline

This is an old joke that seems eerily relevant.

An American and a Filipino attending a police convention abroad were arguing.

American: “In the United States, anyone can pick up any phone and dial 9-1-1. This will record the call and connect them with the police. This is quick police action.”

Filipino: “In the Philippines, anyone can pick up a phone and dial 1-6-6 and chances are high it will connect you to the criminal. This is instant crime solution.”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]