EDITORIAL - Along the street of “by-and-by”

Believing that a recent series of killings that took place in Cebu City and Cebu Province had nothing to do with each other, Police Regional Office-7 director, Police Brigadier General Ronnie Montejo, said he will not pressure policemen by imposing a timeframe to solve the murders.

“Pwede man ta mohatag (timeframe) pero dili ko ingon-ana na mohatag og time frame kay basin hangtud nalang hinuon nga maghimo og kanang taphaw nga (results) aron ma-comply ang timeframe, ang akong gusto nga kanang pulido nga trabaho og kanang tinuod gyud nga suspect ang gawas,” Montejo said in a report in this newspaper.

Investigating a crime is outside the ambit of just anyone. We understand that it takes years of training followed by even more years of experience to become a good investigator. So we won’t argue for rushing an investigation.

Besides, doing so will only make the chances of a mistake very likely. And if mistakes are made in an investigation then it’s usually the wrong heads that roll.

However, we hope that even as the police said they are in no hurry to solve the murders, they are still treating these killings with the urgency they deserve.

The passage of time has a way of making us forget things. It also has a way of distorting or even wiping out the memories of witnesses and perhaps even cause the disappearance of critical evidence.

Also, time tends to make things, even crimes that were once sensational, less urgent and prominent. They always tend to get buried by more recent developments.

Remember that mayor, supposedly under police custody on his way to court, who was plucked out of a vehicle and shot dead? Remember that controversial fiscal who was peppered with bullets in her car in a busy street? Or that former mayor who was also shot dead by armed men who just barged into his room inside a hospital? Their cases remain yet unsolved.

If the murders of prominent people seem to see no solution with the passing of time, what more of the ones whose names don’t ring a bell at all?

Again, we are not saying police should rush investigations, but we would also like to point out that walking along the street of “by-and-by” usually leads one to the house of “never”.