The robbery of an LBC branch in Subangdaku, Mandaue City was alarming enough especially for the company’s frequent customers.
It was the second time this year and the sixth to hit the company this year. Managers in the central office in Manila must be worried about the trend. If they want to keep their Cebu customers safe and happy, they better address this immediately.
Police investigators said robbers of the LBC outlet were familiar with where the cash was stored. One even managed to rob an employee and took a cell phone being charged while on the way out.
A security camera, standard equipment now for commercial outlets that carry cash, would have recorded the crime and the perpetrators.
As it is, the police will take some time in their investigation. The robbers would have been long gone from Cebu by now, gloating over their loot.
But the robberies that happened in the municipal halls of Compostela, Carmen and Sogod this week are something else.
They crimes ook place in government buildings with the local police station located nearby.
The security lapse is not just embarrassing; it involves serious neglect of duty.
Burglars took P75,000 cash from a vault and drawers inside the treasurer’s office at the Compostela municipal hall.
Carmen and Sogod municipal halls lost more than a combined P50,000 in cash and valuables.
Other than finger pointing, what else should be done?
Sogod Mayor Lisa Durano-Streegan and Compostela Mayor Joel Quiño didn’t wait for a police investigation. They convened their peace and order committees to discuss solutions like hiring private security guards and putting up CCTV cameras.
These are standard security protocols in the city, but the high cost is something far-flung towns have to weigh carefully, especially when good police intelligence about movements in a small community should suffice.
In Compostela, civilians hired as watchmen are assigned at the municipal hall from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight.
Quiño said the burglary was a “slap on the face” of the local police stationed just a few meters away.
“This is a big insult on their part. They should not be complacent despite the proximity. Instead, they should be more vigilant because this is their jurisdiction,” he said.
He’s right in bearing down first on police performance.
CCTV cameras are a deterrent but not a substitute for an effective police force or well-planned internal municipal hall security.
Get priorities right first before Provincial Board (PB) Member Jude Durano-Sybico of Cebu’s 5th district sponsors his measure asking all Cebu component towns and cities to install CCTV cameras.