EDITORIAL - Try a little tenderness

This is worth giving a shot — Cebu City police chief Senior Superintendent Melvin Buenafe taking Talisay City’s “bad boy” Joavan Fernandez under his wing by acting as his mentor, big brother, and role model.

Buenafe is right. If being tough on Joavan won’t change him and may only drive him far deeper into his own isolation, maybe bringing him in with a little mentoring will. As the song goes, maybe it is time to try a little tenderness.

But Buenafe is not only right. He is also being practical. He has correctly recognized that Joavan is not only a threat to the community and to his own self, he is also a threat to the police, including his very own men.

Recent incidents would show some of his own men have taken more than just an ordinary interest in Joavan, an indication that Joavan has finally gotten into the skin of even hardened and veteran policemen.

Buenafe has probably seen that some of his men could only be waiting for the right excuse to solve a problem for good. As a good leader of his men, it is not something that Buenafe wants to happen, even if the community may tacitly agree it is all for the better.

Thus, by volunteering to take Joavan under his wing as a mentor, Buenafe can hit two birds with one stone — keep Joavan out of trouble, and his men from the temptation of doing something that can only backfire in the end.

There is no reason that Buenafe can do his part. The big question is whether Joavan can do his. This is where his father, Talisay City Mayor Socrates Fernandez, can finally do something worthwhile for his son, instead of forever coddling him after each and every brush with the law.

Mayor Fernandez has to do his part in making sure that Joavan submits to what Buenafe has set out to do. Under Buenafe, the security of Joavan is at least assured. That takes one thorn away from the side of the mayor. It should now be easier for him to cooperate for his son’s sake.