Tough Talk, Tough Life

While the food was decidedly simple (molo soup, fish on a bun, cake) there was more than enough on the table at the luncheon dialogue between President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and 100 Tsinoy business leaders, plus some from the academe and media leaders and a couple of Taiwanese investors. The topic was crime, specifically kidnap for ransom (kfr), and all the big anti-crime honchos were present–a show of force, if you will, to try and calm the jitters of that segment of the population that is the favorite target of kidnappers. The President talked tough–execution of convicted kidnappers, a deadline for cleaning the uniformed ranks of scalawags (end of the month), a presidential helicopter for use by anti-crime forces, P100 million in reward money, P20 million for equipment. To prove government’s anti-crime resolve, five suspected kidnappers apprehended the day before, all of them with past or present ties to the military, were presented. It was a feel good exercise, with pledges all around to work together and not much political double-speak and just a smattering of chest thumping.

How bad is the peace and order situation? Top cop Leandro Mendoza points out that there has not been a bank robbery since March, and less carnapping cases. kfr cases are, admittedly, another matter: 12 cases between Sept. 8 and Oct. 14, 79 so far this year. Fourteen victims rescued, 19 suspects arrested, five cases filed, P10 million ransom money and assorted firearms recovered; 37 men in uniform identified as part of the crime syndicates, 15 of them arrested. This latest wave is being perpetrated by an alliance of four groups with about 37 members, with a Chinese-Filipino woman supposedly financing and orchestrating the kidnaps (they should arrest her before she flies the coop). kfr cases come in spurts and lulls, the latest spurt taking advantage of the focus on counter-terrorism, with members of the Special Action Force (saf) being deployed to guard embassies and airports instead of chasing after the P50-million gang.

But to the man on the street, crime is not about numbers but about how safe he feels walking in the street, sending his kids to school. Pronouncements at that lunchtime gathering made great headlines, but kidnappers don’t necessarily read the papers. The tough talk should be conveyed to them in a more convincing manner.