Cebu: unsafe for criminals

The safehouse of Cebu City’s suspected top drug lord Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria on Banacon Island, Getafe Bohol, where he was killed by Cebu’s anti-drug operatives on May 28. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

Early in 2006, Virginia was losing sleep over fears that her son Michael would be the next to fall in what appeared to be a spate of vigilante-style executions of petty criminals in Cebu City.

Tomas Osmeña, the mayor at that time, offered a cash reward of P20,000 to policemen for every criminal they would “permanently disable and neutralize.” He also formed the Hunter Team, an elite police unit whose sole task was to go after crime suspects to curb the spate of robbery-killings that then plagued the city.

The day that Virginia, a food vendor, dreaded came in May 2006.

Michael, then 29, had just taken lunch at a roadside eatery when he was shot and killed by one of two men on a motorcycle. He was to become one of at least a hundred victims of summary executions in the city over a period of two years, from 2004.

Virginia, now 60, still feels that stab of pain each time she thinks of how she lost her son. Her family’s cry for justice has remained unanswered.

“What can we do?” said the widow, who would rather not give her family name out of fear for her family’s safety. “We are poor,” she said, as tears streamed down her face.

Bigger reward

Last month, after being away from City Hall for six years, now Cebu City’s Mayor-elect Osmeña hit the ground running with a fresh take on his tough anti-crime policy. This time, the reward for every crime suspect killed had been upped to P50,000.

Virginia felt a similar chill going down her spine. She does not want to lose another son, Jonathan, her youngest child and himself a father of five small kids, who she admitted now dabbled in illegal drugs.

“Even if my son is wayward, I don’t want bad things to happen to him because I am his mother,” she said.

Asked if she suspected anyone to be behind Michael’s death, Virginia shuddered and said: “I would not say anything, sir, because they might run after me.”

Six months before Michael’s death, however, someone showed her a list of targets by the motorcycle-riding killers, supposedly supplied by the police.

“My son was No. 6,” she said.

The vigilante-style killings were reported almost daily in local and national papers. Newspaper reports counted 168 victims from 2014 to 2016.

Feeling of safety

Robert Go, president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 2004 to 2006, recalled th ere was no strong opposition to the summary executions at that time. These made the residents feel safe, he said.

“People wanted immediate solutions,” said Go, adding that businesses were not affected by the news.

No suspect was also ever brought to court for lack of witnesses, according to Leo Villarino, who headed the investigation division of the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas (CHR-7).

Osmeña has denied having a hand in the killings but believed that his uncompromising anti-crime stance might have inspired the vigilantes-styled killings.

Unfortunately, the vigilantes apparently did not distinguish hardened criminals from suspects who might have a chance to reform. During that period, for as long as the suspects had criminal records, they were dead men walking.

Rojo’s death

In July 2004, robbery suspect Roger Rojo, a native of Ozamiz City, was arrested at a checkpoint in Cebu City’s Barangay Punta Princesa for taking a woman hostage.

He was jailed but later shot dead by policemen after he allegedly grabbed a policeman’s gun and tried to escape while inside a van that had just brought him out of jail, as he was supposed to lead them to his cohort.

According to Villarino, the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas cleared Paul Labra III, head of the city police Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Branch, and two policemen, of any liability in Rojo’s death, as no rules of engagement were violated.

CHR-7 decided to investigate the case for possible violation of Republic Act No. 7483, or the Rights of Persons Arrested, Detained or under Custodial Investigation Act. It said Rojo have been accompanied by a lawyer when he was brought out of detention.

Villarino submitted a report recommending charges against Labra and the other officers but Rojo’s relatives refused to sign the complaint.

More killings were carried out mostly by men on motorcycles after Rojo’s death. Some died as they stepped out of jail; others pleaded to judges to keep them in jail.

In 2006, the executions suddenly stopped as Cebu prepared for the hosting of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit. Villarino could not explain why, but some officials said it was prompted by concerns of summit organizers about a “dark image” that hang over Cebu because of the summary killings.

Jaguar

This time, suspected criminals were dying in supposed gunfights with lawmen. In a month, at least 10 were killed by Cebu-based policemen in separate operations in Cebu, Bohol and Las Piñas City in Metro Manila.

So far, at least P225,000 in cash had been handed out to police units for killing four drug suspects and wounding three others.

The latest fatality was Jeffrey Otom Diaz, alias “Jaguar,” who was tagged as the biggest drug lord in Central Visayas. He was slain in a clash with police in Las Piñas on June 17.

In his Facebook account, Osmeña urged Cebuanos to reveal the identities and whereabouts of drug suspects in their communities. “I will get rid of all of them,” he wrote.

Why kill drug lords when they can be arrested and even pinpoint their cohorts and protectors?

“Dead men tell no tales,” said lawyer Augusto Isidoro, former assistant director of the NBI in Central Visayas who now heads the Central Mindanao office of the agency.

Isidoro cited the case of Diaz, who was killed a week after he expressed his desire to surrender. He believed that drug lords like Diaz would rather surrender than engage the police in a gunfight because they could hire good lawyers who could keep them out of jail.

“Drug lords in the Philippines know they can easily bribe policemen, and if the police did not accept their offer, they can bribe the prosecutors or the judges,” Isidoro said.

“In my personal opinion, without questioning the legitimacy of the police operation, Jaguar was killed maybe because he was about to divulge the identifies of his bosses and protectors,” he said.

Isidoro, who was assigned to Cebu from March 2015 to January 2016, said Diaz had several “protectors,” including police officers, politicians and other “big” personalities in the government.

CHR alarmed

While the CHR appreciated the renewed police campaign against crime, it is alarmed by the surge in violence. “Killing should be the last resort,” Villarino said.

Policemen, he said, should heed the rules of engagement to avoid suspicion of involvement in extrajudicial killings.

He cited a statement of concern by a pro-gun group about offering rewards to civilians, as it would be prone to abuse and encourage vigilantism.

Gun owners, especially those untrained in the proper use of guns, can also endanger the lives of innocent people, Villarino said. “We have the right to make a citizens’ arrest, but again if your life is in danger, you go to the police,” he said.

Villarino said the reward system could only entice policemen to take shortcuts in their operation.

“Our public officials should not be in the frontline of encouraging lawlessness,” the CHR official said. “Sometimes, the good intention could be tainted by how we respond to the situation.”

Judge and executioner

Gordon Alan Joseph, president of the Cebu Business Club, also expressed concern over the cash offer even if Osmeña insisted that the killing should be done legally.

Policemen could play judge, jury and executioner, Joseph said in an online interview.

“This kind of justice does not exist in any civilized country in the world,” he said. “We need to work on fixing our justice system.”

Potential investors are also worried, Joseph said. “Most have adopted a wait-and-see attitude and have postponed investment,” he said. “This is not a justice system that appeals to investors.”

He said the government approach in fighting crime should be to improve police capability and law enforcement. The government must also ensure that economic development continues and more jobs are created, he said.

“Reform is needed. Plus, as we all know, economic development, job creation and education mitigate crime,” Joseph said.