Students are people not statistics

The brutal robbery-murder of UP Los Baños student Ray Bernard Penaranda may have been solved, but the bigger crime is far from over.

It is the bigger crime of indifference and incompetence of the local government of Los Baños concerning two rapes and four murders all in a period of four months that has not been addressed, not by the elected officials of the province, not by the community of Los Baños at large and not by the Department of Interior and Local Government.

The case may soon be closed but not the certainty that more students will be robbed or mugged, more women will be raped and more young people will be brutally assaulted or murdered, simply because policy makers and government officials and law enforcers view students as “statistics” instead of as OUR Sons and Daughters.

Somehow, it seems that “we” have not learned our lesson from the sensational and gruesome rape and murder of UP Los Baños student Eilleen Sarmenta and the brutal murder of her boyfriend Allan Gomez in 1993. It seems that people were satisfied with the thought that Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez would die in jail.

How quickly we have forgotten the same fate that happened to UP Students Cochise Bernabe who was tortured and presumed to have been buried alive while his girlfriend Beebom Castanos was assaulted and then buried two kilometers away. To add insult to injury, one of their killers was given a commutation of sentence that stirred up so much opposition!

It is not enough that perpetuators are arrested and jailed. It is not enough for Universities to put up gates and to enhance security within campus, it is time to review how all of us particularly local and national governments treat students and manage University towns and University Belts.

Students are not mere enrollees, they are not mere consumers that eat at fastfood joints and local eateries, they are not just customers that buy school supplies and personal items at malls or groceries, not all of them are “noisy” leftist activists.

They are people. They represent one of the largest population segments of our society, and we the parents and families who send them to university towns or University belts invest the largest collective sum of money and hard work on them and their future.

Given the direct economic impact and contribution that students cause or make, government must restudy its policy and attitude towards students, particularly student’s safety not only inside campus but particularly around University towns and University belts.

Why should we dedicate the greater number of law enforcement personnel and equipment in business districts at the expense and vulnerability of our children? Business districts and private companies have all the money and manpower to protect them selves. Why should students go through the daily survival game of dodging speeding cars, pick pockets, mashers, flashers, drug addicts and gangsters, not to mention rapist politicians?

Police presence is not enough! Secretary Jesse Robredo and his people at the DILG should take steps in creating a “Student welfare and protection program” beginning from the barangay level going up to the Provincial level and even the PNP. Under such a program, students won’t be viewed as statistics, customers or nuisance or not a concern of the Barangay, which is the prevailing mentality among local officials particularly barangay tanods.

It is time for us to recognize that our greatest legacy and biggest investment is under threat. It is time to admit that we have not honored and given due recognition to the status and concerns of students. Our children must not become victims and sacrificial lambs on the altar for change. Please campaign for the protection of students, our children because they are our future and our legacy!

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As I continued to track the UP Los Baños story, I learned that some UP students are now taking the Mayor to task via Twitter for his perceived inaction or actual absence or non-involvement in the crime spree that has taken root in Los Baños. According to a group that calls itself DAKILA, students of UP Los Baños are asking “Nasaan si Ton Genuino” as far as the crime sprees in Los Banos are concerned.

In addition, many students have expressed their fear and reluctance to go outside the UP Campus after the most recent robbery-murder of Ray Bernard Penaranda. I have personally endorsed a “Stay-In” campaign in UP Los Baños, where students as well as Campus officials should hold a Stay-In as in stay inside the campus; spend your money inside the campus until the whole town of Los Baños does something about the horrible peace and order in their town.

People have to realize that they must protect what is important to them and in the case of the Los Baños community it has to be the students and the peace and order.

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The PNP leadership under PNP Chief Nic Bartolome have caught the criminals in record time, and for this they deserve credit and congratulations, nonetheless, the PNP Internal Affairs group still needs to find out who among their “Ka-baro” or members of the Los Baños Police are the suspected protectors of the Penaranda robbery - murder suspects and who are part of organized crime in Los Baños. It would also be good if PNP Chief Bartolome exerts extra effort to learn who really runs the show in Los Banos in terms of drugs, petty crimes, protection rackets of public transport, prostitution and Jueteng? Are the crime bosses of Los Banos politicians or cops?

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