Calling the police, DSWD and Cebu Skin Clinic

In college, several decades ago, I had a friend who went by the name Mr. Cabrera. He was older than me but our huge age gap notwithstanding, we struck a great camaraderie of the uncommon kind. Each time we met, we explored and applied whatever little knowledge we learned in our Spanish class by speaking solely in that language, however faulty we were. Every time we stammered and could not continue with the Castilian conversation, we just broke into a good laughter.

Many times, I visited Mr. Cabrera with the usual Ola, como esta amigo, at his office at the Cebu Skin Clinic at Martires Street, now M. J. Cuenco Avenue, where he held a responsible position. His table was situated across the then Social Welfare Administration, the precursor of the present Department of Social Welfare and Development. I used to tell him, quite proudly, that my mother was one of the pioneer social workers in the country.

I remember Mr. Cabrera because of what a taxicab driver told me last week. One afternoon, he braked his taxi to a screeching halt because the public utility jeepney he was following suddenly stopped to pick up a passenger. Among the passengers he saw was a young lady. He also noticed a man, in shorts, standing somewhere between waiting shed and a food seller named “Bay-o Food & Drinks” and acting like a would-be passenger.

When the jeepney started to move forward, the man ran after it as if to board it. Then unexpectedly, he grabbed the pair of earrings of the lady. The man seemed an expert! So sudden was the crime that the lass who could not even shout for help. She just cupped her bleeding ears while the rest of the passengers were not much of any help.

This taxi driver who told me of the incident mentioned that the area is the operating ground of snatchers. Fellow cabmen shared with him similar reports. He himself witnessed one other criminal act days earlier. In his observation, it would be easy for a criminal to pretend to be a food customer such that his suggestion was to remove the food stand.

Years ago, there was an attempt by someone to occupy that area where the present Bay-O Food and Drinks is located. Mr. Cabrera, claiming that it was a government property, opposed it. He coordinated with the authorities of the SWA to repel the incursion. Naturally, he got the ire of the would-be settlers and he revealed to me the different threats he received presumably out of efforts to rid the area of unlawful intruders.

I am not really sure if the Bay-o Food and Drinks is an informal settler. While I am certain that this was the place Mr. Cabrera talked about, it happened many years ago. There might be documents of his efforts, but they must now lie still in the rusted drawers somewhere. For all we know, the owner of this establishment may have obtained a title to the property. From the looks of it however, it is situated as a small space, between two government entities such that it easy to believe that it is highly unlikely that the government would allow anyone to have it titled in his name.

Aside from the snatching incident the taxi driver relayed to me, I have also heard of same lawless occurrences. Criminal activities of this kind thrive in the area. Indeed, the corner of M. J. Cuenco Avenue and Gen. Maxilom Avenue has obtained an unsavory reputation of being a criminal lair. Snatchers wait in ambush near the food seller and after victimizing helpless commuters, they have many places to run to. They may dash across towards the cemetery and be lost among the graves or double back towards the inner sanctum of Sitio Kalapokan.

In the hope that we can restore peace and order in that area, we can revive the vision of Mr. Cabrera. It may not be easy but DSWD and Cebu Skin Clinic authorities have to realize that a solution to the crime rests upon their shoulders. Let them clear the area and it will be easier for the police to patrol it in order to protect the citizenry.

***

Email: [email protected]