Crime prevention is still the ideal situation

As we believe in that time-honored legal doctrine that declares a person “innocent until proven guilty” we cannot be sure that the Talisay police bagged the killer of Fr. Jovencio Rabusa, unless of course we have a tight confession, meaning, it can’t be retracted. Anyway, I’m glad that the Talisay Police have been working feverishly since the killing of the priest, though I maintain my stand that if only the police had visibility in their respective areas of responsibility, that crime could have been prevented, which should have been the ideal situation.

But then, the situation with our police is less than ideal. We can only blame this on the current centralized form of governance. Police precincts are sort of “standardized” in their plantilla, where there’s an average 24 cops per precinct. Hence, a police precinct with a full complement in a place like Siquijor would end up with having too many cops doing nothing, as Siquijor has a very low crime rate.

But in Metro Cebu, which has the highest crime rate in Central Visayas, a police precinct still has the same number of personnel assigned to the police station, which you can very well conclude that they are undermanned! But then, the Regional Police Commanders cannot change what has been carved in stone in Central PNP Headquarters. In a Federal form of government, due to scarce resources, the high-density crime areas are given more cops than the low crime density areas, which is the right thing to do.

Finally, there’s the issue of crime prevention. This can only be achieved with the proper use of the police intelligence funds, which was the subject of the editorial of The Philippine Star yesterday. If only our police officers had the intelligence to use their intelligence funds wisely, then they can instantly pinpoint who are the criminal elements roaming around their streets and pounce on them even before they can even commit a crime. But then, this is the Philippines where nothing really works!

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Another case where nothing works is the flyover at the controversial Foodland corner which, for all intents and purposes, is a finished project. Everyone seems to be content that the traffic there has already been “controlled” and there seems to be no more public pressure on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to widen the streets that still need to be widened. This is a very ugly Filipino trait where we seem contented with today’s traffic. But in truth, it is now that we ought to pressure the DPWH to do more proactive plans, rather than react only when things become worse.

A case in point is H. Cortes Ave. which still has two huge open canals along each side of the road. At the height of the Banilad Flyover controversy, this was one road that was always snarled by traffic because it is a two-lane road. I recently passed there and while traffic was light, I was looking at the huge canals and pondered, why couldn’t the DPWH come up with a road widening project where those canals (that breed the dreaded Dengue fever) couldn’t be covered and make way for two additional lanes?

If any, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes ought to spearhead the moves to widen this major artery of Mandaue City that brings its residents living deep within the city all the way to the Mandaue Reclamation. When this was a hot issue, Mayor Cortes was a newcomer in the mayor’s seat. But now he must show leadership and ask the national government through the DPWH to widen this road. Mind you, elections are coming very soon and people will be asking the Mayor, what have you done for our city?

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Exactly a week ago, we celebrated the 96th birthday of our fellow Rotarian and Past District Governor Capt. Federico “Rex” Reyes who has the unique honor and distinction of being the “Oldest living Rotary District Governor in the World”. But there was a revelation about PDG Rex Reyes that I learned only a week ago, that he was an Air Force pilot. I have always known that he was a pilot, but I never realized that he trained and flew with the Commonwealth Philippine Army Air Corps (PAAC). On July 1, 1941 to Dec.24, 1941, he was assigned at the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the PAAC, the forerunner of the PAF stationed at Batangas Air Field under Col. Jesus Villamor.

After the Fall of Bataan, he was captured but escaped and joined the guerrillas under Col. Ruperto Kangleon as his Adjutant General in Leyte. After the Leyte Landings, he joined the headquarters of the 6th US Army stationed in Tolosa, Leyte. He was later sent to Air Force Flying schools in Texas, where he flew the Lockheed P-38 “Lightning” the same kind of plane that ambushed Japanese Admiral Isoruko Yamamoto. I had a P-38 model plane in my young days. Call me lucky that a fellow Rotarian once flew this magnificent warbird. That’s PDG Rex Reyes.