EDITORIAL - A welcome development but...

With the arrest of one of the suspects in the recent killing of Iranian student Ashkan Aminian, the Cebu City police seem to have been challenged by the remarks of acting mayor Michael Rama.

Aminian's killing was one of the heinous crimes gripping the city that the police were not able to solve that triggered Rama’s stinging statement. In his remarks, Rama said that he envied the law enforcers in Mandaue City for solving a couple of murder cases happening in the neighboring city of late.

His statement came after the Mandaue City policemen arrested the suspect in the killing of a call center supervisor and in the rape-slay of a worker of Mactan Economic Processing Zone.     

The heinous crimes hogged the headlines for many days. At first, it seemed that the police authorities would be facing a blank wall in their investigation into the twin incident.

Instinct would always tell us that a simple case of theft or physical abuse can bring a huge blow to the law enforcement profession if remained unsolved. And the police know that. 

A thorough look at the circumstances surrounding the twin killings enabled the Mandaue City police to find more invaluable clues. And it took them just a few days to arrest the suspects, an accomplishment which earned them praises not only from Rama but from the public as well.

 The arrest of the suspect in Aminian's killing is definitely a welcome development in Cebu City police's effort to solve the case. We can only say that at last justice will finally be served.

But while we are praising the Cebu City policemen for scoring big in solving this particular case, we should also not forget that there are still other cases that are waiting to be solved. And the killing of assistant city prosecutor Patrick Bryan Osorio is just one of them.    

We don't want to conclude that the Cebu City policemen are far more incompetent than their Mandaue City counterparts. Their being unable to immediately arrest any suspect in any of those killings may have something to do with the circumstances beyond their control.    

But it is the noble profession of law enforcement that would suffer if a particular case, sensational or not, is left unsolved.