Reinvent PNP and labor unions

I am with Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama who was alarmed by the spate of crimes in Cebu City.

Many residents no longer feel safe travelling and walking on the streets. That is why the mayor would like the police chief to order his police precinct heads to conduct more operations to run after criminals.

It is unfortunate for a locale to be perceived as unsafe by different sectors like the businessmen in our community. I think the police should reinvent itself. Today, you seldom see policemen on the streets as many of them are just in the airconditioned rooms doing menial tasks instead of attending to the maintenance of peace and order.

Our police should be proactive in the battle against crime. Being a victim of petty crimes that are prevalent in our city is not easy. While I agree that crime is not only a police but also a community concern, the police should take the lead in subduing criminals because they are provided with firearms to protect themselves while ordinary citizens are not.

I am hoping that Police Chief Noli Romana and his men will be aggressive in apprehending outlaws. It is best for people to feel secure in their residences, to feel that they can live peacefully, free from anxiety that any time they could be victimized.

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Allow me to congratulate Cebu Daily News (CDN) for being the most awarded publication in the recent 2013 Civic Journalism Community Press Awards of the Philippine Press Institute. CDN won Best Editorial Page, Best in Photojournalism and the Coke Bayanihan Award for Best Reporting on Disasters.

Congratulations to publisher Eileen Mangubat. I think CDN truly deserves those awards, but let us not rest on our laurels as there are many challenges awaiting all of us in CDN.

We should strive for excellence so that we can bring our news and better insights to our readers, for them to develop critical thinking and make wise decisions.

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Labor Day has passed but what is so unfortunate is that the national government failed to make any announcement to give more benefits to workers.

Worse, many labor unions have become irrelevant to employees. Last Labor Day, union members marched to protest the presence of the Americans in our country and shout anti-imperialist chants that has nothing to do with our local labor sector.

I wish labor unions protest vigorously against the contracting policy being implemented by many establishments. I have encountered this situation in a mall where cashiers are considered as contractual workers who do not have security of tenure.

I think the labor unions should reinvent themselves to become more attractive to employees in our community.

We have no need of labor leaders who only think of themselves, not the interests of their members. Labor unions should be good not just in joining rallies and demonstrations and demanding benefits from their employers. Unions should also put to good use for the benefit of its members the fees they pay.

These fees should be used for the members and not for union leaders to improve their status. I have seen some labor union leaders become so rich while their members have remained so poor because the leaders are just milking the members of membership dues. I was even told that if one wants to get rich he just needs to form a union because there is so much money in it.