Resignation is better, Chief Gayotin

In the middle of 2005, soon after the police of England solved, with dispatch, the bombings which took place in London, I began to feel ashamed of our peace officers almost to the brink of calling them uselessly incompetent. I made that label after trying to compare the efficiency of the police forces in the two cities. Comparing, I said that there were then only two horrible and probably related events which rocked the British city requiring intense police efforts while there had been about 80 vigilante murders (at that time) in our own metropolis. In other words, the number of heinous crimes to be investigated was far fewer in England than in Cebu City.

Theoretically, in London, there were fewer clues, witnesses and effects of the crime to work on compared to the almost daily occurrence of summary killings here. Yet, despite that virtually favorable investigative field available to our police forces, as against the situation the Britons were in, we came up with zero performance. Unlike the British who had effected extra-territorial arrests, our police had no suspects at all, as if there were no crimes committed. That was mid 2005.

It is now 2006 and more than a year has passed since the vigilantes have struck terror in the hearts of our citizens, both the peace-loving and the denizens of the underworld. Still, our policemen have come up with nothing. They have demonstrated their utter inutility in protecting our unarmed citizens against pistol-packing killers.

Judging from the manner with which the vigilantes carried out the cold bloodied double murders against two defenseless brothers in barangay Lorega, few days ago, they must enjoy the feeling of impunity. To them, crime does pay. Just imagine, they must think capable of barging through the doors of their victims and after violating the privacy of their innocent victims' homes, they can pump bullets into the heads of defenseless individuals without the police even identifying them!

What horrifies me is that Police Chief Melvin Gayotin does not seem affected with the growing label of Cebu City as Murder City. He is not ashamed of his gross incompetence. Of course, it is not difficult to believe that the reason he is not doing his job is that his superior, the Honorable Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña earlier expressed his own pleasure in having inspired the vigilante killings. In other words, if the mayor has inspired the killers to carry out summary executions, it is obvious that the police chief should not feel the urgency to solve these murders. Or, he would run the risk of displeasing the mayor.

I am appalled even more by Chief Gayotin's evasive tactic in the face of mounting public discomfiture. When his attention was called by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, (meaning, the IBP perceived that chief had been sleeping on the job) Chief Gayotin tried turning the table on the lawyers, conveniently forgetting that the earlier call was made by His Eminence, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

Feigning that his hands are full, the police chief is asking the lawyers to help him. What? The police chief wants our lawyers to solve these crimes! By the same token, Chief Gayotin calls for our priests and bishops to help him investigate these murders. Nayabag na. What is thus clear is that by so saying, Chief Gayotin admits that he does not know how to perform his job. If that is the case, our police chief should resign the post as asked of him by IBP President Atty. Alex Tolentino.

Believe me, chief, resignation is a better option. True, it is shameful for you to acknowledge your failure as the resignation amounts to, but it is better to give the position up to someone else who knows of ways designed to protect our citizenry. In your watch, we can only count the dead, almost daily, without any expectation of any appreciable ratio of crime solution. We can not wait for the day when no man dares to walk our streets fearing the guns of the vigilante. That'll make our city worse than just Murder City.