View attachment 9443 The upsurge of lawlessness these days in Dumaguete, it would seem, tends to dislodge our reputation as a city of gentle people. We may hate to admit it, but Dumaguete, under the present resurgence of the wave of impunity and lawlessness, is no longer a city of gentle people. The sooner we admit it, the sooner we may be able to restore its serene and rustic grandeur which has lured so many people and cultures in the past , to this side of the world. Just after the May elections, the sudden rise of criminality with impunity, extrajudicial killings, robbery and the resumption of the illegal drug trade, illegal gambling, have shocked not a few but the entire community. To all the duly reelected and newly elected leaders of Dumaguete, the city we all love so well, we now ask you and your entire caboodle of law enforcers: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO DUMAGUETE AGAIN, MR MAYOR? Under whose command responsibility do all these fall? Notably, the rise of criminality could have something to do with the reshuffle of assignments of law enforcers, the army, the police and soon the barangay captains. The criminal syndicates who had apparently been lying low during the elections , know that with new heads coming in to lead law enforcement agencies, they might not be able to focus on their jobs and the terrain yet. That is why the proverbial saying goes true that “when the cat is away, the mice will play.” Extra judicial killings have resumed unabated, businessmen and ordinary folks not exempted. Only last Friday, a foreign national and his Filipina wife were robbed of P2.2Million in cash, plus expensive pieces of jewelry, —and worse, the criminals did it not only during broad afternoon light and without bonnets, but also with gangland style hold-up ambush in the heart of downtown Dumaguete, and then vanished without a trace. So what do you exactly call that kind of impunity? Definitely, the “police visibility” has not worked, has diminished, if not lost, its effectivity which is caused perhaps by complacency among many , but not all, law enforcers. That innocent migrant-couple can be robbed at mid-afternoon in the downtown area before the eyes of unwilling witnesses, is a very, very bad sign of degeneration. Why were the police conspicuously “invisible” at that precise time on Friday afternoon’s multi million peso holdup, Mr Chief of Police? Where was that once quick response the city PNP created under Chief Tolentino? Is it no more? , and where are your brand new donated motorcycles, precisely to race and go after robbers like that? Obviously, the element of preparedness is not at par with present brand police visibility. The lack of a dry run –constant dry runs— blunts the edge of the sword. And those tummies will start bulging again, mind you! And the worst thing we don’t want to believe is that just because you guys at city hall have been reelected and elected by the people doesn’t mean you can now start sitting on your jobs. Please don’t forget that no matter how long or how short you hold that position, so long as you are paid by the taxpayers, you will remain as public servants , and never public masters,—-unless you get out and resign from your present positions.
