EDITORIAL - A daunting challenge

There’s still a lot to be done, President Arroyo said, and there are daunting challenges ahead for the nation this year. None looks more daunting, at least for her adminis-tration, than the maintenance of peace and order. As a new year dawned, there was another murder to be solved. Baron Cervantes, regarded as a spokesman of the Young Officers’ Union, was found dead with a gunshot to the head near his home in Las Piñas on New Year’s Eve. Cervantes, a former lieutenant in the military and later in the police, had been feuding with members of the Young Officers’ Union, a shadowy military group that seems to have as many factions as the rightist Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Maka-bansa.

Cervantes was believed to be spreading rumors about a desta-bilization plot against the adminis-tration. Malacañang may laugh off any attempt at destabilization, but the rumors alone are destabilizing enough. In addition to coup plots, real or imagined, there is the very real problem of criminality. From the early days of this administration, concerns have been raised about ransom kidnappings in Metro Manila. In addition to these kidnappings, there’s the long-festering scourge of the Abu Sayyaf, which struck again last year, raiding a Palawan resort and taking a fresh batch of hostages to Basilan. The military’s self-imposed Christmas deadline to rescue the captives came and went with the three remaining hostages still in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf.

The kidnappings have scared away investors and tourists and made life miserable for many Filipinos. Some have sent their children abroad; others have shut down their businesses here and moved with their entire family to another country. The administration may crow about "respectable" economic growth, but economic success is useless if the people live in fear and can’t enjoy the fruits of growth. In survey after survey, criminality ranks high among the concerns of the business community in this country.

There are sensational crimes waiting to be solved, and bungled attempts at solution hardly inspire confidence in the police. If investigators fail to crack the Cervantes murder, it will merely fan more rumors of a brewing coup – something the administration can do without. President Arroyo has been promising to crush the Abu Sayyaf, neutralize kidnappers and keep the people safe. This new year she should mean it.