Cotabato summit eyes solution to rising crimes

COTABATO CITY, Philippines  ---Thursday’s cross-section peace and order summit here generated critical suggestions from participants on how local sectors and authorities can cooperate in addressing security issues hounding this troubled city.

The summit was organized by the Sangguniang Panglungsod, led by its presiding chairman, Vice-Mayor Muslimin Sema, as a step against the rise in shooting incidents and other crimes in the city’s 37 barangays.

The city peace and order council (CPOC), chaired by Mayor Japal Guiani Jr., has convened here Thursday, to discuss security issues, including the  enforcement of an an ordinance requiring members of the business community to install surveillance cameras in their establishments.

The summit’s secretariat documented 15 urgent motions by participants representing various sectors, foremost of them a recommendation to formulate an action plan on the city’s peace and order problems.

One participant suggested the creation of technical working groups or TWGs to oversee the implementation of a community-driven strategic peace and order plan.

Another motion sought the deployment here by the Department of Justice of special prosecutors to handle high-profile cases, and for local authorities to create a task force that would focus on preventing shooting incidents.

Chief Supt. Alex Paul Monteagudo, police director for Region 12, acknowledged that there is a problem of unabated killings in the city.

In the past 11 months, murder crimes led to the death of 90 victims here.

Monteagudo welcomed the efforts of the Sangguniang Panglungsod and the Guiani-led CPOC in trying to find solutions to local security problems.

“Hindi ito na so-solve ng isang upuan lang,” Monteagudo said in an interview with Catholic station dxMS here.

Apart from local policemen, there are also some 500 combat-ready Marines, belonging to the Marine Battalion Landing Team 1, that help guard the 37 barangays here against criminals.

Lack of judges

A motion to request DOJ to put up a functional Witness Protection Program in the city was also raised in the summit.

The presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court here, Bansawan Ibrahim, said each case in court ought to be resolved within 180 days.

Ibrahim, however, said it is difficult to meet this deadline owing to the lack of judges.

Ibrahim told summit participants that there  are issues about the efficiency in the delivery both by mail and through warrant officers of subpoenas to individuals mandated to appear in court to participate in proceedings.

“There are also no applicants for the position of judges in our area,” Ibrahim said.

There have been documented cases of harassment of court personnel and prosecutors here.

Ibrahim’s house was shot at with assault rifles by gunmen several years ago in what he believed was a work-related attack.

There were also the still unsolved murders in recent years by suspected guns-for-hire of Judge Sahara Silongan and, subsequently, Maguindanao prosecutor Akil Balt, in the supposedly busy Sinsuat Avenue here.

A senior member of the city council, Willie Bueno, said there is also the problem of “culture of fear” among local folks.

Bueno said witnesses refuse to cooperate with investigators for fear of their lives.

Vern Simon, a radio reporter here, said worse than the so-called culture of fear is the “culture of silence” among the local communities.

Simon  was apparently referring to the absolute silence of people about the crimes perpetrated in the city, because of the slow dispensation of justice or the failure of the police to put culprits behind bars, or for fear of becoming subject of ire from suspects in crimes, especially those that belong to influential families.

Surveillance cameras

The importance of close circuit television security facilities in business establishments here was among the issues discussed in the separate meeting of the CCPOC on the same day the summit was being held in another venue.

Aniceto Rasalan, secretary to the city mayor, told dxMS in a phone interview that the ordinance requiring commercial establishments to have CCTVs will be enforced strictly to maximize efforts of maintaining law and order here.

The city’s police director, Senior Supt. Danny Reyes, said maintaining law and order in the city ought to be a multi-sectoral initiative.

He said they have been doing their peacekeeping missions, but victims are  reluctant to help prosecute culprits.

Monteagudo said he takes exception to claims that that policemen here are helpless and are doing nothing to address rising crimes.

He said policemen are fulfilling their duties, but lack of cooperation from the local communities has been affecting their efficiency.

The peace and order summit last Thursday was conceived via Resolution 5214, passed by the city council during a recent session.

Sema said they decided to hold the summit to build a consensus on how to address local peace and security issues.

Sema said most suspects in killings here have been identified by barangay folks, but most of them have not been arrested because no one would come out and identify them properly before investigators.

Counter-productive

Police officials also agreed that the practice of paying “blood money” to families of murder or homicide victims as an “out of court settlement” has also been affecting the dispensation of justice via the regular courts.

There have been several wealthy murder and homicide suspects here and in Maguindanao that conveniently eased themselves out from criminal liabilities after paying “blood money,” called dia in Arabic, to families of their victims.

Participants to the summit also reached a consensus that there is a need to design a system on how local folks can effectively provide law enforcement outfits with information needed to solve crimes and revitalize and support the operation of civilian volunteer organizations. - John Unson