IMPLOSION TAKING PLACE. In an earlier column write-up, we advanced the possibility that there would be an implosion in the Bacolod Police owing to weak leadership of the present police chief which we also attributed to weak civil government leadership.
There were also continuing information that the mayor himself or his men with his intimate knowledge, are allegedly involved in the operation of Jai Alai, a fact being talked about daily wherever one goes in the city. That jai alai, jueteng or the illegal numbers game operation with one, the PBA being operated by a group of Bacolod City councilors. Again, we or those being talked about of being involved in the numbers game, and are denying the involvement of city government officials and, in turn the Bacolod police chief, has brought about a moral depravity and the triggering of low morale among the police’s rank-and-file which is reflected in the results of the ORSITE survey by regional police officers which subsequently tagged the Bacolod Police as incompetent, inefficient and ill-trained. A defensive Police Chief, Senior Supt. Celestino Guara, Jr., hit back and in a pun at the ORSITE Team, said they gave the BCPO a very low rating for one reason or the other, the major one being that they had not been accommodated, the accommodation he meant, is not fit to print here. Again, the BCPO suffered another blow when it was adjudged number 5 in the "Best Police Force" competition in Western Visayas region, only confirming what the ORSITE survey indicated. But then in the past years, the BCPO had garnered high ratings, including consistently bagging the best police force in the national level with awards for successive years. The low morale we had analyzed, clearly is the major reason for the unfortunate ratings the BCPO got because of poor senior police officers’ leadership. However, it is our belief that there were certain factors enfeeblements lacking, the reason for the lower than average ratings of the BCPO. WARNING SIGNALS. That the implosing would come, had been very evident with the worsening crime situation in the city, with both petty crimes and later, alarming incidents of hold-ups and robberies. The fact is that, the police chief as we have pointed out time and again, lacks focus in doing his job of keeping the peace and ensuring that all kinds of crimes do not disturb order in the city. Petty crimes such as snatchings, pickpocketings, killings, and akyat bahay operation felons continue and with no definitive measures being done to minimize or at the most, stop these. It is also disturbing that local government officials have not taken positions on the matter except for councilor El Cid Familiaran who had made many suggestion, including the setting up of motorcycle teams to augment police visibility which could prevent crimes from taking place. We, of course, would want the police and the city government to succeed in solving the peace and order problem, although, on the matter of crimes against property, like many, we are well-aware that the root cause of these is the worsening problem of poverty and incapability of many families to produce food for the table. With the economic crisis, it appears that the intensifying incidence of crimes, will only worsen in the coming days, months, and years. But will the implosion in the police end? Problems such as these are easier claimed to be solvable than it is. But, it has deep roots and while the Bacolodnons must do their share in solving these problems, clearly, the ball is in Mayor Evelio Leonardia’s and Bacolod Police Chief, Senior Supt. Celestino Guara’s court. But, indeed!
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