That does it Crime rates and a vigilant citizenry

Fifty-seven to sixty percent. That’s the increase in crime rate this year compared to last year, in Metro Manila. And while President Aquino may have trumpeted the decrease in the country’s crime rate, it is evident that Metro manila is going the opposite direction. The Philippine National Police, in fact, is already asking for a more active and vigilant citizenry to help them in the fight against crime.

 Crimes like that of a woman who posed as a doctor, slipping easily through the hospital security, and stealing a three-day old baby! I cannot imagine the horrors felt by its mother! She probably hasn’t even had time to bond with her child! The security agency has been replaced but if you ask me, their license to operate must be cancelled as well! This is incompetence at its worst!

 Apparently, this is not the first time a baby or a child has been stolen. They are not kidnapped because no ransom is asked. They are probably sold to a waiting couple, to bypass all the paperwork required for an adoption, here or even abroad! Is it a wonder why the country is still high up on the human trafficking list? Most of these cases neither become solved nor reported on media. Need I say that if this were a high profile case, involving the wealthy, the influential or a politician, both the media and the police would be all over it like flies on a corpse!

 Just like what happened to the son of the incoming Metro Manila police chief. As he parked his car on the side of the road to talk to a friend on his cellphone, a police car pulls over and an officer accuses the boy of phone sex! He must have fantastic hearing to accuse him of something like that! He then asks for a fine of twenty thousand pesos for the alleged violation, which is absurd! Sensing he did not have that kind of cash on him, they commandeer the car and proceed to a nearby ATM, asking him to withdraw five thousand pesos. That’s when the son had the sense to call his father, who talks to the arresting officer, who then says nothing and dumps both the boy and the car somewhere. Now tell me, if that were an ordinary person, how do you think would it have ended?

 This is how crime is in Metro Manila, perpetrated by both civilians, and some police. So how can a vigilant citizenry work with the PNP if there are police out there who are criminals themselves? How can the PNP weed out these scalawags, unless they are first caught committing a crime? Should we really be surprised if the crime rate in Metro Manila is rising? Cebu has it way better!

For a vigilant citizenry to work well with the PNP, the PNP must first regain the trust of the public. That is of paramount importance! That victim could have been anyone, even my own brothers. These predatory ghouls do not deserve to be policemen. They should not just be dismissed, they should be jailed for life, as they will only continue committing crime, in uniform or out of it!