I must commend Cebu City Police Chief Patrocinio Comendador for the early solution to the senseless killing of Jade Ruby Ruba, the graduating Nursing student of Cebu Doctors University (CDU) when the police arrested Aivan “Eping” Barabat and Mark Anthony Gabriel, two members of a new crime group called the “Crips Gang”. Another suspect Karl Marx Carticiano was tagged as the driver of the motorcycle that they used as their getaway vehicle. As we said, Ruby Jade was killed for nothing but a cellphone that they fenced for P3,000! Each gang member “profited” P1,000 each by sending the poor girl into an early death!
Eping Barabat admitted that he only wanted her cellphone, but when Ruby shouted, he shot her. It was that simple, that easy to kill another person! What was also clear in his admission was that, these people were practically “casing” Ruby when they saw her using her cellphone. They were like hunters, waiting to pounce on their prey. This is a sad episode for us who live in Cebu City, but at least, we’re glad that the police did a great job and in fact, they even apprehended a certain Maria Baswa for the violation of the anti-fencing law.
While I agree with CCPO Chief Comendador that this case is practically solved, we must now learn the lessons we can get from this in order to prevent future incidents from happening. Foremost on my mind is for the Police to go on a saturation drive against the so-called “Crips Gang”. Mind you, these people live so uncomfortably close to my house and it’s about time that our barangay officials help the police in identifying the members of this gang, including their rival gangs and neutralize them.
I understand that my good friend Councilor Edgardo Labella has proposed a new ordinance designed to curb cellular phone theft. But enforcing this law might be the problem. May I suggest instead that we strengthen the laws against fencing? I’m no lawyer. I don’t know what the penalties for fencing, especially cellular phones are. I’m sure these penalties haven’t scared nor deterred anyone from buying from thieves and robbers. Why don’t we strengthen this law and make stiffer penalties in the hope that it would make people rethink buying fenced objects?
If Ruby Jade was casually using her cellphone at night, it is only because Cebu City does have a better than average peace and order reputation compared to other major cities. Little did the poor girl realize that criminal elements had already tagged her. The citizenry would breathe easier if we really had a police patrol vehicle (either by motorcycle or car) that goes around checking out areas where people look suspicious.
In the US, you can hardly see people on the streets making “Istambay.” While there are many Pinoys who have nothing better to do at home, you’d find them drinking in a street corner somewhere. A good cop should stop and frisk or inspect people drinking along the streets. If they did this regularly, I’m sure it would make our streets safer.
Finally, we need to ask parents where their children are at the wee hours of darkness? There’s a law prohibiting kids below 18 years from drinking liquor or beer but I have seen many establishments, especially those nice convenient stores in gas stations selling liquor to minors. This has to stop if we want peace and order to be restored in Cebu City.
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Super Ma’am Imeldific Marcos was cleared by Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of 32 counts of dollar salting for depositing US$75 million dollars without the approval of the Central Bank While this decision came from the lower court, it is too presumptuous to say that this legal battle is over, far from it! If any, this news only reduces from 901 cases filed against Imeldific to 869 more to go.
One thing we can really say about this latest report is that, this money was deposited way back in 1983 and the US$75 million in Swiss Banks have now earned U$21 million in interest. While the peso has strengthen vis-à-vis the US dollar, $21 million is still $21 million in any language. In today’s currency exchange that’s close to a billion pesos. That’s no small change!
The question people want to know is who now owns that money in Swiss Banks? I’m sure this will trigger another legal case. So when will the legal battles of Imelda end? Perhaps she just might be joining her husband to the grave before those cases can be resolved. What we know for sure is that justice on this case has been totally denied, both against Imelda and the Filipino people! How could this case languish in court for 17 years escapes me!
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Email: vsbobita@mozcom.com