Cebu City residents should hold Senior Supt. Noli Romana to his promise to resign as Cebu City police chief if three of his precinct commanders are relieved from his post for failing to prevent robberies of convenience stores or any other commercial establishment or at least arrest the suspected perpetrators.
The relief of precinct commanders, also known as Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s “one strike” policy, was agreed on during his meeting with Romana and other police chiefs last week.
The meeting also came with Rama’s threat to withhold the P2,000 monthly allowance to police personnel and officials if the spate of robberies continue. No surprise considering that it’s the holiday season which brings in all manner of unwanted gatecrashers seeking to divest people of their belongings.
Even with the policy in place, there are serious doubts on whether the Cebu City police have enough personnel not only to keep an eye out for robbers but other criminals like drug pushers, murderers, rapists, arsonists and so on.
It’s a tall order for Romana, who doesn’t exactly boast a stellar record in law enforcement as evidenced by the hesitation of former Police Regional Office (PRO) chief Marcelo Garbo to recommend him as Cebu City police chief last year.
But Rama insisted on getting Romana and the latest spate of robberies of commercial establishments in Cebu City from late October to Nov. 11 this year doesn’t speak well of his maintenance of peace and order in the Queen City of the South.
We’re not even talking about the shootings of businessmen in front of their homes in broad daylight or as they go home after work nor of the holdups or robberies involving average people on the street or affluent motorists.
Sadly that wasn’t included in Rama’s “one strike” policy because the specific concern was commercial establishments. So we are left to wonder if, God forbid, an assault on another businessman or influential figure by criminal elements would constitute a “strike” against police officials.
Not that we should rely on the police all the time to secure our safety from criminal elements. While police officials may lean on barangay tanods and their respective Barangay Intelligence Network (BIN) to boost their monitoring of criminal elements, city residents can also do their part by keeping an eye out on suspicious-looking visitors in their neighborhood.
Not everyone can afford to install security cameras but neighborhood associations can perhaps ask their members to each contribute a small amount so they can set up these devices in key areas within their communities. When it comes to maintaining peace and order, community action remains a vital resource against criminal elements.
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