Crime stories caught the most attention in the Dumaguete community in the past two weeks.
Last week, a couple was robbed in broad daylight after they had just withdrawn P2.2 million from a bank. This week, an eight-year-old girl was found dead after having been raped and killed in barangay Bajumpandan.
Weeks before, that were news stories about the killings of people who were linked to the drug trade or the hot car business.
People have reacted very strongly about these incidents, mainly asking, “What’s happening to Dumaguete?!” Some even went as far as saying that Dumaguete is no longer The City of Gentle People.
What’s happening to Dumaguete? It may just well be a rhetorical question; a question for which we do not expect an answer because deep within us, we know the answer.
Worse, we are probably even guilty of abetting the conditions that lead toward or continue the wrong things that are going on in our community.
We don’t have to actually commit these gruesome crimes to share the blame for the sad state we are in. Could it be that in our desire to be true to the moniker of being “gentle people”, we do not wish to offend others by calling their attention when they break the laws?
“Little things”– like going against one-way traffic laws, littering, not crossing on pedestrian lanes, using plastic bags in grocery stores, burning of solid waste in our homes, texting while driving, smoking in public, refusing to leave their houses along the riverbanks, not using helmets — go unabated because we could not summon enough will to call a spade a spade.
A wrong deed is still wrong no matter who commits it; and even when no one is around to enforce the law.
In the end, what we do in our own small ways will have a bearing on the kind of city we want Dumaguete to be. If we are vigilant over those “little things”, we can be vigilant over “big things” such as peace and order or disaster risk-reduction.
We go back to the Broken Windows theory whereby we have to pay attention to the little things before we can eliminate the big ills in our society. In our own way as private individuals, we must be prepared to stand up to right a wrong, the moment we see it.
Incidentally, and thankfully enough, Dumaguete is not lacking in terms of direction since we have the proper infrastructure in place. Task Force SAGARR (Special Action Group Advocating Rapid Reform) has been established to do just that.
Perhaps its time for this task force to be more aggressive in taking care of the “little things”. In fairness to the hard-working people in this task force, a lot of progress may have been made which we have yet to be informed about. In any case, it may not be too much to ask for a weekly report on their activities.
