Unsafe streets

Driving along Gil Puyat (Buendia) Avenue on the Manila side last Tuesday, I got stuck in heavy traffic. To the right of my car a jeepney idled. A teenage boy jumped onto the jeepney step, grabbed something from one of the passengers seated at one end, then jumped off and ran away.

The sun was still up but there were no cops or traffic aides around. The passenger, who apparently lost a cell phone she was holding, was no wife of the Italian ambassador; she didn’t bother to chase the thief.

Silvana Fornari, wife of Italian Ambassador Luca Fornari, knew how to hang on to her bag when it was slashed by a thief. But in the streets of Metro Manila, even bags slung across the body and clutched tightly by the owners are violently snatched. I know someone who carried her bag that way and was dragged several meters along the sidewalk by two snatchers on a motorcycle in Cubao, Quezon City. The snatchers appeared to have been tipped off that she had just withdrawn money from a bank. They got the bag, leaving the injured woman sprawled on the street.

The jeepney passenger probably thought that in the unlikely event that she caught up with the young thief in the alleys of Manila, he could be cleared of criminal liability anyway under the juvenile justice law.

That law, while crafted with good intentions, has effectively widened the potential pool of people beyond the reach of the law in this country. Anyone below 18 is likely to get off with thievery and other petty crimes. They can be prosecuted for serious crimes such as murder, although this depends on the discretion of social welfare and judicial authorities. They mostly also go free if they are apprehended for selling shabu or collecting jueteng bets for the major operators.

Many jeepneys now have grilles with double and even triple locks on the driver’s side. This is to protect against kids who grab the driver’s moneybox near the steering wheel.

Passengers also know enough not to wear earrings or necklaces when seated in jeepneys. Such pieces of jewelry are easily torn out of earlobes and necks by snatchers.

While a large segment of the population has been given immunity from prosecution for many crimes, the law enforcement pool has barely increased.

Criminals on bikes are increasingly a problem. That Manila traffic cop I knew did his job and chased a bike-riding man who (according to reports) wore no helmet and brandished a gun. In broad daylight, the killer emptied his 9mm on the uniformed, armed cop riding a police motorcycle. Manila police probers are looking into the possibility that the killer was the same man who had just robbed a moneychanger in the city (and got away).

Police forces are overwhelmed. The continually deteriorating police-population ratio is compounded by the fact that scores of cops are assigned as bodyguards of VIPs.

One businessman whose home was recently the target of a foiled robbery, for example, now has nearly 20 cops assigned to him in shifts. Why should one person enjoy so much protection? Public safety should mean exactly what it says: safety for all, and not just for a handful of wealthy and influential VIPs. We all deserve state protection from burglars, bag snatchers, carjackers and cell phone thieves.

The Philippine National Police has only about 140,000 members for the entire country. With nearly 10 million Filipinos overseas, there are still more than 80 million left here for the PNP to keep safe. About 12 million are in Metro Manila, and that’s a conservative estimate. Every citizen deserves the protection of the state, and so do all foreign visitors.

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When I told colleagues about that snatcher on the jeepney, they told me similar stories with people they know as victims.

Criminality is usually rampant in densely populated cities even in advanced economies. But some countries deal with the problem better than others.

The factors that matter are catching criminals and bringing them to justice, recovering stolen items whether mobile phones or vehicles, and ensuring the efficiency of crime prevention measures.

The PNP office in the National Capital Region has recorded an increase of 63.8 percent in the crime rate in Metro Manila in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2011.

Of the 29,231 crimes reported since January, 325 incidents involved criminals on motorcycles, with 355 victims. Nineteen suspects were arrested, 12 killed in reported encounters with the police, and 325 are classified as under investigation. Eight cases have been referred to prosecutors; only seven cases have been filed in court.

It must be emphasized that law-abiding motorcycle owners have also lost their vehicles to robbers.

The PNP emphasized that nationwide, the crime rate is down.

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Traffic management also suffers from the lack of cops.

PNP units are supposed to be assisted at least in traffic enforcement and patrols by traffic aides hired by local government units and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

But in several areas, MMDA personnel aren’t really doing much managing. There’s always a horde of them along Macapagal Boulevard where traffic is light, eagerly pouncing on any motorist who breaks a 60-kph speed limit. It’s a speed trap that does nothing to improve traffic flow. Over on nearby Roxas Boulevard, the area near the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran is always blocked by buses and jeepneys, with no traffic aides or cops to tell the drivers that the boulevard is not their terminal.

The same situation prevails at several spots along EDSA. Those long waits by bus and jeepney drivers for passengers can only continue because they are tolerated by the PNP and MMDA – in exchange for what is anybody’s guess.

Traffic cops still know their business better than traffic aides, but every year it seems we see fewer of these cops.

Police presence is still a crime deterrent. If the PNP can’t hire more personnel, it should improve its deployment priorities. It’s not enough to improve the economic status of Filipinos. The fruits of growth should be enjoyed in safety and peace. And not just by a handful of VIPs.