EDITORIAL - Political harassment?

Violence erupted anew in Cebu City’s upland area when unidentified gunmen set on fire a dump truck owned by the barangay captain of Bonbon the other night, in the latest incident many have attributed to the tense local political situation.

In another incident, at least two employees of City Hall have reported harassment. Ronaldo Malacora of the Department of General Services claimed uniformed armed men come to his house in Barangay Buot looking for him, while Catherine Yso of the Office of the City Mayor alleged that unidentified men on board a motorcycle threw stone at her house in Barangay Basak-San Nicolas.

What prompted many to believe politics is behind the latest incidents is that the two are supporters of Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan, the local party that Mayor Tomas Osmeña heads.

Was politics really behind the series of violent incidents in the city? If Osmeña and his allies are to be believed, those incidents were clearly politically motivated because all victims are their supporters.

What’s more serious is their claim that the police are behind some of the reported harassments in the barangay. In fact, the mayor and his camp have been accusing the Cebu City Police Office of being biased in favor of their political opponents.

And we cannot blame the mayor and his camp for their accusations against the police. Besides, we have to remember that there is an ongoing conflict between him and the CCPO stemming from the fact that he cannot get along with city police director Royina Garma because she is an appointee of President Duterte.

However, in fairness to the city police, we have never heard them openly supporting the local opposition. Of course, the public can never expect them to side with the opposition because they are strictly an apolitical institution.

In the absence of convincing evidence showing the police interfering in city politics, those claims against them are just purely allegations. But if they think they have enough proof, the best thing for Osmeña and his camp to do is to bring their case to the court.