Maybe the Ronda municipal police office really had no one else to guard their precinct on the day that Mayor Mariano Blanco was murdered by unidentified gunmen at his own office last Wednesday dawn, Sept. 5.
Then again, maybe they could have spared a few people to secure the mayor while some of them chase after a suspect in the theft of a chicken as well as a frustrated murder suspect who had eluded them for a decade rather than have all of them pursue those suspects.
Maybe the Ronda municipal government should have spent money to install security cameras and detail security guards to protect Blanco, whose nephew and Vice Mayor Jonnah John Ungab was murdered by still unidentified assailants in broad daylight near the Hall of Justice in Cebu City seven months ago.
Blanco joins other local officials like Tanauan City Mayor Antonio Halili of Batangas province, who was shot dead during a flag-raising ceremony last July in the unenviable list of casualties of the government’s brutal war on illegal drugs.
Like Ungab, Blanco’s guilt and ties to the illegal drug trade had yet to be proven beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law. And like Ungab, the perpetrators of the murders either had no patience for the niceties of due process or are merely hired guns of drug lords out to discredit the campaign against illegal drugs by cutting off any loose ends leading to their doorsteps.
Either way, Blanco’s murder sends a chilling message not only to local officials who may be involved in illegal drugs but also peace-loving Cebu residents alarmed at the ease and impunity with which those responsible for the murders are allowed to get away with their crimes.
The violence is such that it had claimed lives like that of Bladen Skyler Abatayo of Barangay Ermita, Cebu City, who died due to a stray bullet during an anti-drug operation in the area last July 10.
In their apparent frenzy to catch criminal suspects, Cebu police like those in Ronda town and Cebu City may have forgotten the second half of their mandate which is to protect lives.
And while that mandate to protect should not compromise their safety in the performance of their duties, neither should it be a license for the police to ignore the safety of those that may be caught in the crossfire or as in Blanco’s case, the protection of local officials whose guilt remains unproven.
As it is, it is not the height of exaggeration to say that it’s open season for summary executions in Cebu where anyone with drug ties are executed with abandon and the police seemingly helpless or unwilling to stop the carnage.