Is Dumaguete safe? This is one question that people post on social media accounts after every report of someone getting killed, usually in a shooting incident which usually remains unsolved.
From January to September 23, a total of 17 victims were killed in 14 shooting incidents from January in Dumaguete alone.
The killers choose no preferred time of day to make the kill. They strike at nighttime or daytime, oblivious to whether people are watching them pull off their dastardly act.
But there are some common denominators in these killings. They have all been done by gunmen riding in tandem, with their plate numbers removed. And after every kill, there surfaces a story about the victim, that he or she was involved in some shenanigans or what not, which seems to tell the listener “It’s O.K. — they deserved it”.
A great cause of worry is the seeming helplessness of the authorities in catching the gunmen. Of the 17 murders, there have only been two cases where the suspects have been identified and charged in court. The 12 other cases are still “under investigation”, which could be a euphemism for “clueless”.
City Mayor Felipe Remollo appears to be the least worried. “Dumaguete is safe,” he assured visiting information officers and tourism officers last week. “Dumaguete is not a place for criminals.” Still, that has not managed to assuage the fears of some Dumaguetenos of motorcyclists riding in tandem, especially if the motorcyclists pull up beside them. It would be unthinkable to believe that the reason why these killers are not caught in the first place is because these are cases of extrajudicial killings.
Dumaguete being the “City of Gentle People” that we like to believe it to be, we give the criminals the benefit of the doubt–that they pure and real criminals and are not lawmen pretending to be what they’re not.
The newly-installed police chief in Negros Oriental, Senior Supt. Edwin Portento, has ordered the police to institute a “fresh patrol beat” system. Since that system was in place in about a week, no one was reported killed but hold-ups were still reported. As expected, no suspects were identified and arrested.
With an undermanned police force, well below the ideal ratio of one policeman for every 500 residents, the PNP cannot be relied upon to be at the crime scene within three minutes, the ideal response time.
But we’re not all that helpless. The City has a budget for CCTVs. They should act faster to lease and install them. Public surveillance systems have been proven to be effective in solving crime. We take the cue from the TV news, which now devotes whole segments to CCTV footages and how these were used in catching the criminals.
The presence of CCTVs should also reinforce the Deterrence theory, a common crime-prevention theory which has been around for some time. The Deterrence theory argues that crime can be prevented when potential offenders perceive the risk of apprehension and the seriousness and swiftness of sanctions to be greater than any benefits that will accrue from committing a crime.
And for once, can we impound unregistered vehicles or vehicles with no plate numbers? Aside from reducing crime, this will also reduce accidents as there will be fewer vehicles in the streets.