The foiled robbery in a cosmetic store in Natalio Bacalso Avenue in Talisay City which claimed the life of a hapless security guard has become a topic of discussion among police provincial officials and based on the conversation, I doubt if citizens can expect crimes to abate.
Observe how Talisay City police station chief, Supt. Carmelo Dayon, described the daytime heist: it is similar to two robberies that occurred in Cebu City last month, in which the suspects posed as customers, disarmed the security guard and pounced on the victims. Dayon cited a robbery case last April, when suspects attacked the La Nueva Pharmacy in Barangay Inayawan. Five months later, thieves struck the Three-Sixty Pharmacy in Barangay Bulacao.
That all three robberies happened in the same street, the Natalio Bacalso Avenue, which stretches from Mambaling to Bulacao, Talisay City is an angle that should strike fear among local businessmen who own and operate establishments in the area because apart from the fact that criminals seem to thrive in the district, they are no longer deterred by the presence of security guards and closed circuit television cameras CCTV in the business premises.
This is a very busy commercial district and yet police visibility is rather low especially in Talisay City.
The Avon store is cheek-by-jowl to the Tabunok public market and the flyover which is near the terminal of habal-habal and tricycles. The gaggle of daily life is 24/7 in Tabunok and except for civilian traffic enforcers, I don’t see any policeman roving around even if swindlers and petty criminals lurk around the area.
Two years ago, my kasambahay lost her cash and cellphone to a budol-budol gang near the flyover.
Reports of snatching and hold-up abound in the area but I don’t understand why police visibility in Tabunok is low. Police Provincial Police Office Director Senior Superintendent Noel Gillamac should make Supt. Dayon account for this situation.
The similarity of the modus operandi shared by three robbery incidents along N. Bacalso Avenue is not even a significant point to consider because it’s a common method used by criminals anywhere in the world.
The situation merely underlines the problem of establishments that cater to a mass market. Because they always have ready cash, they are easy targets of criminals. In other words, police visibility should routine in areas where stealing had been previously reported.
If the modus of the crime is all that the local police could provide in terms of fresh leads to the cosmetic outlet robbery, it shows a lackadaisical attitude that does not match the urgency of the problem.
The requirement for business and other establishment like schools, hospitals to install CCTV cameras was initiated by the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo. The DILG circular was enabled by local ordinances from local government units and there is no question that police investigators can lean on CCTV to track down criminals.
However, CCTVs are no substitute for police visibility and more importantly, dogged investigation and pursuit of criminals.
Daytime robberies used to be infrequent in the past five years or so but not anymore. In fact, thieves are quite well-informed which establishments doesn’t have security guards or CCTV equipment. The LBC outlets in Cebu City and other parts of the province have been robbed many times and policemen have found a lame excuse why the crimes have not been solved.
Supt. Gillamac should come up with a strategic plan to meet head-on the crime surge now happening in Cebu towns and cities.
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“Be very afraid,” goes the warning of a netizen who commented on the involvement of Quezon City policemen in the “hulidap” case along EDSA that rocked the entire nation last September 1.
Hulidap is slang for extortion perpetrated by rouge policemen whose modus is to intimidate businessmen, celebrities and scions of wealthy families with illegal possession of drugs and drug trafficking raps. As shown by the hulidap along EDSA, criminals in uniform easily squeezed millions of pesos in less than 24 hours by threatening the victims with bodily harm and trumped up drug charges.
As we now all know, the deputy commander of the La Loma police precinct in Quezon City had been identified as the mastermind of the hulidap. His cohorts included 8 other active policemen and another who had been dismissed from the service. The case has exposed the rottenness of the police agency in Manila to the core, that one irate citizen described the PNP as a crime syndicate.