Absent leaders make criminals bolder

Among the most dastard of crimes was, again, perpetrated in our barangay, few days ago.  I am using the word “again” to emphasize the startling frequency of criminal happenstance in our neighborhood. Along F. Cabahug Street, about a hundred meters from my own humble home, alleged robbers senselessly killed a young gentleman-worker of a call center. (The other day, the police arrested a suspect.)

For us, the residents of Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City, it is harrowingly difficult to understand why such crimes as robbery and murder should occur in our area. We take pride, in an almost elitist way, that the inhabitants of our barangay are not molded in criminal minds.  We are law abiding citizens. Breaking laws is not in our psyche. Most of us here are busy attending to the needs of our respective families either by pursuing individual professions or doing corporate works. Yet, while we hope to be considered as a model community in many respects not excluding peace and order, we are alarmed and at the same time embarrassed that the name Kasambagan frequently hits the headlines of newspapers in gruesome reportage and is featured in horrible criminal stories.

We want to know what is ailing our neighborhood.

In most, if not all of these reported criminal activities, we notice the absence of our barangay leaders. No one among our barangay officials seems to care what is happening in our midst. Do they think that it lies beyond their concern to make us feel secure? While we do not expect them to interfere with police authorities, because, they may not know anything about preserving peace and order, we would have, at least, been assuaged to see them work out some plans to address the recurring carnage.

To be fair to them, few years ago, our barangay government built a “Tanod” outpost somewhere at F. Cabahug Street, not very far from the entrance of Villa Aurora. That could probably be in response to the series of criminalities taking place in our barangay. So, thinking that finally we saw a positive move on the part of our officials, we heaved a deep sigh of relief. But, soon after it was completed, we knew that our officers did not really know what they were doing. The outpost has instead become a symbol of useless expenditure because right after its construction, no tanod had been assigned to man it. In fact, it has remained padlocked.

To add proverbial insult to our perceived injury, let me tell our officials of a crime that happened there only about two weeks ago. My family availed of the service of a massage spa in our barangay. When we got out of the establishment, we heard shouts for help. The distressed cries came from two ladies who just completed work hours at a hotel also located along F. Cabahug Street. As we saw it, two motorcycle riding men stopped their vehicle beside the hotel workers and grabbed the bag of one of them. The crime was committed almost in front of the “tanod” outpost. If it was a real outpost that our barangay government erected, and some tanods were in it, perhaps, the robbers would not have been so daring!

When we approached the distressed damsels, we could only hear the victim comfort her own self by saying “demalas da, tua na da sa tulisan ang akong tanang panginahanglan” or words to that effect.  Unfortunately for the call center agent who was murdered by the robbers, he was not simply “demalas” for he lost, not only the things he needed, but his own precious life.

Truth to tell, those victims of crimes were not simply “demalas”. The continuing surge of venalities in our area had nothing to do with demalas. It is the direct result of the incompetence of our barangay leaders. Because they do not know how to keep our peace, our officials cannot show their faces in defiance of crime. Absent leaders make criminals bolder. Differently said, it had been the incompetence of Barangay Kasambagan officials starting with Capt. Jun Lim that allowed criminals to terrorize us. Unless our officials do something to protect our residents, they are not worth their fat allowances.

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