Special Report CSU: The men in blue

From the older-existing elite force of Men in Black, otherwise known as the Special Weapons and Tactics team or SWAT, came a special class of policemen of Cebu City called the Men in Blue, which belongs to a group officially named as the Crime Suppression Unit or CSU.

The CSU, created seven months ago, is exclusive to the Cebu City police force and no other group of the same composition, training, and mission exists anywhere in the country.

Differ this with the SWAT, which main thrust is crisis management in anti-terrorism and hostage situations. The CSU has its special objective: To bust with peculiar aggressiveness the notorious criminals in the city.

The CSU is well equipped with powerful firearms, communication gadgets, and new vehicles. Its 24 members, in their distinctive blue uniform, are young and topnotch marksmen with special training and specialization in law enforcement and urban warfare-making them a notch higher in skills than their colleagues in the police force.

The CSU caused only ripples in its targets but city police acting director Melvin Gayotin and Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch chief Paul Labra have vowed that it would be making waves in the future as a reliable force to reckon with in the fight against crimes in the city.

Creating it was no joke to the coffers of the city government, which so far spent an estimated P7 million for equipment alone. With such expenses then, some sectors have already begun asking if CSU is going to live up to its purpose or will simply end up a waste of time, money, and effort.

Events behind the creation

In the later part of last year, tension and fear of rising crimes gripped the city. Most residents became apprehensive of their safety, anxious even in the confines of their homes as news of robberies and killings became almost a daily fare.

Nobody was safe anymore, or so they thought, especially that criminals then became bolder and more aggressive by hurting or killing their victims who tried to resist.

Among the incidents was the gunning down of Lahug traffic enforcer Felix Dy by unidentified men when he tried to respond to a robbery in progress. Then the popular Cebuano fashion designer, Jed Sevilla, cheated death after he was shot at four times by robbers inside his car while stopping for a red light along B. Rodriguez Avenue. Earlier than these was the emergence of the Rey Torres robbery group that struck several people and establishments in various parts of the city and running away unscathed with hundreds of thousands of money from victims.

As early as October last year, the group's notoriety seemed practically unstoppable staging heists in daring fashion prompting the police to tag it as a clear threat to the city's peace and order. Labra admitted now that the Rey Torres group had spawned the birth of the CSU.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña at the time declared he was creating a Hunters' Team, a group he said would be composed of highly skilled policemen tasked to apprehend criminals and have them prosecuted.

But a day after his announcement, unidentified men shot dead an ex-convict at the pier area resulting to suspicions that the Hunters' team of the mayor was after all a group of vigilantes. More killings of men, with criminal records, followed and vigilantism became the trend of the times to lick criminality in the city.

Some accepted it as a necessary force but other sectors viewed it as a blatant violation of human rights. In both ways, however, the public's suspected executioner was the Hunters' team. But Osmeña said it could not be because the team was not created yet. Amid public protests, Osmeña changed the name of the planned group to Trackers' Team with 40 applicants vying for the coveted but limited slots. Last January, the group officially became the CSU and only 24 policemen made the cut.

More inside the CSU

A former California policeman, Bing Mendezona, trained the Men in Blue on law enforcement and enhanced their marksmanship skills. They are also deputized as agents of the Land Transportation Office, meaning that they could respond to traffic situations on the spot.

Their other tasks are to serve warrants of arrests and be the first to respond to major alarms within at least three minutes, with a specific rule not to hesitate to shoot it out with criminals if the need arises.

The operation of the CSU started with a set-up where the CIIB would furnish the CSU with intelligence reports on criminal activities and order the latter to initiate the operations.

Labra says the CSU is now under the helm of Supt. Herman Lungayan, who says there are two teams working on two 12-hour shifts under team leaders SPO4 Rex Campos and SPO3 William Alicaba.

Lungayan says the CSU's priority at the moment is street crimes but he confirmed that it is an effective tool in crime busting. It needs more refinement and adjustments in the strategies and system of operations, especially on intelligence gathering, he said.

Each CSU member is armed with Ferfrans rifles, worth P80,000 each, and has a sidearm of either a .45-caliber pistol or a 9-mm revolver. They move about with their brand new vehicles, which are provided with a daily gasoline budget of 30 liters.

Accomplishments?

Gayotin said CSU has not created an impact yet on the discriminating public, and Labra said it is because there are no major incidents yet that could put their expertise to the test. "Wala pa man silay impact kaayo kay wala pa may noted criminals nga nag-standby dinhi. Namalhin man outside the city, even outside Cebu province." Gayotin said.

Labra said the arrests of Torres and Limotan were done in Mindanao so they failed to put the CSU in the limelight here. "Dili gyud sila substantive og arrest kay wala man gud silay intelligence unit, dili sila maka-case build up. Plus dili sad diri ang dagko nga arrests like sa Torres ug Limotan didto sa Mindanao so dili gyud sila mo- stand out. So makaingon ang people nga wala sila mohaom."

But Gayotin admitted that the presence of the CSU has caused a decline in crime volume. "Nikunhod gyud but relative man gud na sa arrest sa high profile criminals and also of the vigilantes."

On vigilantes, Labra clarified that the CSU is not in any way involved in summary executions. "The CSU operates within the bounds of the law," he says.

Lungayan, admitting that vigilantism is a crime, said the CSU should form its own intelligence men who could operate undercover and catch the people behind these killings.

But with the current positive performances of the CSU, Labra said this group would improve further and might be given a new name. Gayotin meanwhile adds he is tapping six more men to train with CSU so that when the right time comes everybody would have proper training in law enforcement.

Issues/bloopers?

There is a recent issue against the Men in Blue. Some listeners of DyMF Bombo Radyo last month sent text messages complaining that some CSU members are seen in Mambaling sleeping on their job at around 4 pm to 6 pm everyday.

These claims were unverified though and Labra said that no administrative investigation could be done because no formal complaint on the matter was filed.

At any rate, there was a time also when the CSU members became the butt of jokes last month when they chased a man they believed was the elusive Torres. They caught the man indeed but he turned out not Torres but an innocent engineering student.

Labra defends, "It's not a blooper because the CSU men acted on an information that Torres was somewhere in Talamban. They were just doing their job."

These may be minor or negligible issues to lodge against a big idea as the CSU. And its effectiveness could only be tested with time.

CSU is strictly law enforcement work, Labra declares. "It can do more like SWAT only that the members are deployed as mobile patrols. It serves its purpose gyud." Gayotin said, "Ang CSU medyo naluto kay gi-guide gyud sila sa trainer in the field unsaon paggukod og sakto, how to make arrests properly. So they acquired additional knowledge on law enforcement. That is why when CSU responds, mas safer, faster, and proper because they are properly trained."

Osmeña, Gayotin, Labra, and Lungayan are confident CSU will do better and improve further. But the public is wondering: Is it really a necessary idea to reckon with or simply a waste of people's money?