Rama tells police to keep mum on secret marshals

Secret marshals ought to be secret and it should be kept that way.

This was the gist of a statement issued by Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama in reaction to the redeployment of secret marshals in public transportation.

He said, "if they would wish to put policemen in jeepneys, they don't need to declare it. They should not make any pronouncement."

Rama believes that announcing the deployment of "secret marshals" would mean that it will lose the secrecy of the operation and would even forewarn perpetrators of crimes.

Secret marshals are plainclothes policemen fielded on board buses and jeepneys.

He said it is undeniable that the bad elements themselves have their own intelligence network that monitors the moves of the police.

"I would not be surprised if bad elements have their own intelligence network," Rama said, reiterating that an operation such as the deployment of secret marshals is better left unannounced.

Aside from this, Rama said the police should also make it a point to sustain their efforts to curb criminality in the city, especially with the pull out of the augmentation force intended to secure Cebu supposedly for the ASEAN Summit last week.

The summit has been postponed to next month and the augmentation force from Manila was also pulled out.

Rama, however, said that the proliferation of petty crimes such as jeepney robberies is not reason enough to conclude that the city is no longer a safe place to live in, as other cities in the country also have their share of crimes.

Last week, a former reporter of The Freeman was shot on the face when a robber forcibly took her bag inside a multicab. Marie Deltan Galeos, 27, underwent an operation Saturday night and is now recuperating at a private hospital.

The Police Regional Office 7 has issued a memorandum reminding police officials of concerned cities to keep fielding secret marshals especially during the holidays where petty crimes like jeepney robberies are expected to rise.

The memorandum of Senior Supt. Carmelo Valmoria, chief of the Regional Operations and Plans Division, described the use of marshals as one of the "target-hardening police actions."

In is memorandum dated December 15, Valmoria identified Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Lapu-Lapu City as those that must utilize secret marshals in public transportation.

Cebu City Police Office acting director Melvin Gayotin has already ordered the 11 police stations in the city to enforce the memorandum and has directed station commanders to submit daily accomplishment reports for monitoring.

The secret marshals were fielded early this year when a student was killed after refusing to give her mobile phone to a robber. - Joeberth M. Ocao