EDITORIAL - Impunity

Less than a month ago, the former chairman of the Commission on Audit lost his government-issued sport utility vehicle to an armed carjacker at mid-morning in a busy commercial area in Parañaque City. Reynaldo Villar was let off unharmed and the Toyota Fortuner was later found abandoned.

Last week it was veteran actress and former beauty queen Pilar Pilapil who lost her car. Pilapil suffered a worse ordeal, being stabbed seven times before the carjackers drove away with her car and her companion late Thursday night. She was dumped in a vacant lot in Antipolo City, where residents found her and rushed her to a hospital.

Pilapil survived, but her car and companion have not been found. As in the case involving Villar, the suspects have not been arrested. The record of the police in cracking these cases has not been encouraging. Chef Gaita Fores is still waiting for the arrest of the men who took her SUV at gunpoint from her driver in Makati’s commercial district, or at least the recovery of the vehicle. Lawyer Oliver Lozano is also waiting for the murderers of his son, believed to be members of a carjacking ring, to be brought to justice.

If prominent carjacking victims have a long wait for justice, think of how ordinary people fare when their cars are stolen. As in the many unsolved murders of left-wing activists and journalists, this weakness in law enforcement has led to impunity in carjacking. Law enforcement requires sustained vigilance. Certain anti-crime campaigns in the past have shown that when cops do their job well, it’s possible to stop criminality.

The nation saw this in campaigns in recent years to stop kidnapping for ransom, robberies of bank armored vans, and even in sporadic efforts to curb jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling. When Koreans complained of being victimized by carjackers operating along C-5 Road apparently with the connivance of certain NAIA personnel, a crackdown put an end to the problem.

It could resurge as soon as the campaign loses steam and more carjackers manage to get away with their crime. The same is true of other carjacking cases. Every case left unsolved emboldens more crooks to commit the crime.