Extreme measures

The arrest of the drive-by shooting suspects who gunned down, among others, a police asset in broad daylight comes days before a news story in which Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ordered police to meet a so-called arrest quota.

“They have a quota for me, 10 holduppers a day. Or else they will be assigned in Tawi-Tawi. It’s better if they’re dead because they will only do it again. If they’re not dead, it’s bailable, they can post bail and will commit the crime in another day,” the vice mayor was quoted by ABS-CBN as saying.

Tough words were  backed up with the death of a robber who victimized a student in a follow-up operation by police. While Duterte has gotten away with issuing threats and warnings on TV so far,  it’s  different in Cebu City, which has an active civil society.

Or is it? Wasn’t it a few years ago when then Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña said he would reward those who can neutralize robbers and petty crooks? The crackdown on crime  resulted in the sudden deaths of suspected hoodlums.  The vigilante-style  killings were  condemned by then Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

This  infamous period in Cebu City’s peace and order situation was the subject of a leaked US cable that was disclosed by WikiLeaks last year.
Despite the alarm over the recent drive-by shootings in Cebu City, it’s good that  Mayor Michael Rama didn’t do a Duterte.

He simply reminded Senior Supt. Ramon Melvin Buenafe, Cebu City police chief, to intensify  patrols and solve the cases.

Sure enough, suspects were arrested.

Rama’s pointed reminder to the police about their lack of focus and negligence, stated  in front of barangay officials during a weekend  assembly, worked to some extent.

Would an arrest quota be effective for Cebu City like it would in Davao City?

Watchdogs of human rights abound in Cebu and won’t let that strategy  pass without an outcry. They would have a  field day castigating Rama and other officials who would  resort to extrajudicial killings and extreme measures to crack down on criminal elements.

There’s some truth to what Buenafe said when he said  Cebu City’s peace and order climate remains  stable.

The sporadic shootings, several of them gang related,  aren’t enough to bring the economy to a standstill or drive people off the streets at night.
Illegal drugs is a more pernicious problem, which is another headache.

Having said that,  Mayor Rama still has to get the police to do a better job, considering the generous support of City Hall for the police force and the fact that Cebuanos deserve a safe place to live and work.