In his response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address, the sociologist Prof. Emeritus Randy David criticized anew the government’s anti-drug campaign.
“The number of people being killed in the streets in broad daylight has not at all diminished, but only a few of these deaths are now attributed to the police,” David said.
The professor noted that death squads, organized and prepared to liquidate without remorse, freely prowl about our streets in search of victims.
David further observed that being emboldened, squad members have dispensed with using ski masks for which they had been called “bonnet gangs.”
“Armed with lists of target individuals they don’t personally know, they rely on local informers to point to them their intended victims,” David said.
“The local police are alerted to the presence of these gunmen in their areas just to make sure they are not anywhere near when the actual killings take place,” David said.
“Forewarned, they dutifully take their time going to the site of the incident. And so, quite often, the undertaker from the nearby funeral parlor is already waiting to collect the body of the victim by the time the police arrive.”
Do Professor David’s descriptions accurately portray the situation in Cebu?
If they do, the question “Who will watch the watchmen?” gains new relevance.
In at least three instances, police have associated slain persons or their relatives to illegal drugs only after deadly incidents have occurred.
The father of Bladen Skyler Abatayo, 4, was accused of being engaged in the drug trade after the boy was killed by a stray bullet in a bungled police operation.
After the remains of a couple were found in different places in Cebu following their shooting, police linked them to illegal drugs operators.
In a relatively high-profile case, they have accused former Terejo Barangay Chairman Jessielou Cadungog of involvement in illegal narcotics after his bodyguard shot dead a motorcycle-riding suspected gunman who turned out to be a cop.
Such post-mortem aspersions on people, in stark want of evidence may calm the bystander who feels some discomfiture with the daily bloodletting in Cebu.
But they do not satisfy the requirements of justice, which still holds every citizen innocent until they are proven guilty, and which in these parts do not count death as a penalty for any offense.
Any policeman who thinks he is letting justice take its course by letting vigilantes do their dirty work is an accomplice in the ongoing bloodbath. It will not be long before the public finds the link between vigilantes, their police protectors, and murderous cops damning and deserving of stinging gestures of no-confidence.