When soldiers were first deployed to assist traffic enforcers in Cebu City and other parts of Metro Cebu as part of the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT), there was little if any reservations on the part of local officials about their involvement, let alone their presence in the streets.
In fact in a coincidental occasion of solidarity, both Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Supt. Royina Garma, Cebu City police chief, were in agreement that the presence of soldiers will not only help augment traffic enforcement but also serve as a deterrent against criminal elements.
By deterrent, we hope that it will also cover those motorcycle-riding assailants or so-called “riding in tandem” that execute drive-by or pointblank shootings on their targets even in broad daylight.
It’s no small coincidence that a lot of those killed had ties or were linked by police officials to illegal drugs involvement like Ronda vice mayor Jonah John Ungab. Even law enforcers like Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) officer Earl Rallos were not spared from the killing spree and suspicions were high that he was killed by a cop though the Police Regional Office vehemently denied this.
That said, with the presence of soldiers in the streets, why is there a need to create death squads who will be tasked to hunt down suspected drug dealers or communist New People’s Army (NPA) Sparrow members?
Especially in Cebu where the insurgency, as the military’s Central Command had reiterated time and again, had been contained if not rendered inutile in no small part due to the combined efforts of all stakeholders including government.
Even with opposition to President Rodrigo Duterte’s proposal, the police had been open about their support for this plan and PNP Director General Oscar Abayalde specified that it will follow the Alsa Masa model.
President Duterte had repeatedly justified in previous interviews the Alsa Masa presence in Davao City during his term as mayor, saying Davao City had been a hotbed of communist insurgency at the time.
But can the same thing be said in Cebu and even in Bohol province, where Abu Sayyaf bandits were almost immediately repelled not just by soldiers and police through the vigilance of Boholanos?
The mere presence of soldiers in the streets back in the day can alarm anyone but thanks to government’s painting of the drug war and even the traffic situation as dire, such was not the case with the public at least as of the moment.
We hope that local governments can get their acts together and manage to secure not only the traffic but the peace and order climate in their areas so that they won’t have to require soldiers to do their jobs for them.