EDITORIAL - Even tyrants need brains

It has been several days since the city has been rocked by a spate of killings, most, if not all, of them involving murderers riding on motorcycles, clearly now the vehicle of choice in the commission of crimes.

Since then there have been numerous calls for the authorities to do something about the seeming ease with which any Tom, Dick and Harry can avail of a motorcycle, which are being sold for a song, meaning it is almost just like singing to the dealer and merrily off you scoot.

But instead of doing the things that really matter, the authorities, especially the city councilors, prefer to deal with the mundane and the trivial, such as calling for greater security during the school opening or urging the fire department to check boarding houses.

This is not to say that school security and fire safety are not important. But these are normal things that the concerned agencies such as the police and the fire department are mandated to do without any urging from the city council or anyone.

Why can the city council not just do its job of legislating measures that are responsive to the call of the times, so that the public may be better served instead of paying attention to the duties of others?

The trouble is that, or so we heard, many of our councilors have staff who do nothing but research the papers for any issues that can be ridden on. Is the aim here to compensate the lack of achievement with a surfeit of sound?

Maybe this is why, in case you have not noticed, many stories you read in the papers that have anything to do with the city council or the councilors are stories that journalists would call as “laway” or saliva articles, meaning they are all talk but involve no action.

These “laway” stories have one characteristic qualifier. They are always “urging” something --- urging this agency to do this, urging that bureau to do that. Why can't they just do things on their own instead of paying attention to others?

The Local Government Code has given local governments such tremendous powers that analysts have come to describe them as little tyrants. In other words there is so much that can be done regarding the menace posed by motorcycles. But then again, even tyrants need brains.