FIRST PEACE AND ORDER SUMMIT IN COTABATO CITY

The first Peace and Order Summit here in Cotabato City initiated by the Sanguniang Panlungsod and presided by City Vice Mayor Honorable Muslimin G. Sema. The event was held at the 3^rd level of South Seas Mall here in Cotabato last November 29, 2012 and started at around 9:00 am and lasted up to 4pm.

The activity was supported by the concern agencies like city police, city jail, CIDG, NBI, City Prosecutor’s Office, Religious sectors, civil societies and too many to mention.

I would say it worth attending, knowing what is the real status of the peace and order here in the city and the suggestions, comments and reactions of the people both direct or indirect affected and by the people who had been a victim of street crimes and other form of criminalities.

Below is the speech of Vice Mayor Hon. Muslimin G. Sema in verbatim.

COURTESIES

Greetings of Peace!

My task today is to present to you the key issues and concerns pertaining to the peace and order situation in the City.

Let me start with dissecting the elements of what we mean by peace and what we mean by order. When we say peace we refer to it as a state where we one experience:

1.    A state of harmony or friendship

2.    A state of being free from danger, violence, disturbance or injury at home or in public places

3.    Harmonious relations between people or groups and freedom from disputes and strife

4.    Law and order within a state

Order, on the other hand refer to a condition when people follow prevailing laws.

Based on the peace and order briefing provided to us by our law enforcers a while ago, from January to November 25, 2012, a total of 97 shooting incidents were recorded by the city police. Of this number, 59 were killed. On the 97 shooting incidents, 27 cases were solved, 70 remained unsolved while 15 cases have been filed in court.

27.8%    27 cases solved with 55% or 15 cases filed in court

72.2%    70 cases not solved

100%     97 cases 60% or 59 victims were killed

When a case is solve what does it mean? The city police explained that a cases has been filed with the City Prosecutor’s Office. If the City Prosecutor finds probable cause in the case filed by the City Police, then it will be submitted to the courts for appropriate action. In other words, out of 97 cases only 15 cases or 15.4% have been filed in court.

This is a very sad situation mainly because the police appear to e helpless in combating the shooting and killing incidents in the City.

The reasons for the low accomplishment have been attributed to the usual

1.    Lack of manpower, logistics etc… The 1^st MBLT have been deployed in the city upon request of some sectors to augment the city police. So manpower can no longer be an issue. The PNP Headquarters and the SP through the City Government provides funding for logistics to the city police. So logistics may not be a valid issue.

2.    Lack of witnesses to help in identifying the suspects – Now, this is very important issue because it is indicative of the level of trust and confidence of the community on the law enforcing sector and the justice system.

You know the SP staff tried to get in touch with victims of criminalities in the city. Unfortunately not even 1 was willing to speak about the injustice they have suffered because they are afraid that the suspects will retaliate if they say something. So they have decided to suffer in silence. Some victims of killings, hold ups, snatching, carnapping and other street crimes have been decided not to report the crime to the police because they perceive that nothing good will come out of reporting the matter. They are afraid that the suspects who remained unidentified and at large will hit back at them if they report to the police and that the police will not be there to protect them when they need protection. In other words, they have been terrorized by the criminals that freely roam the city. Therefore, it is also possible that the number of shooting incidents is higher that what was recorded by the city police.

3.    The reported absence or seeming unwillingness of possible witnesses to help the law enforcers identify the culprits of the shooting and other criminalities have led law enforcers to consider the suspects as “unidentified and at large”. This is probably one reason why many cases are lost along the way. (hanggang dito na lang ba ito?)

Of the 97 shooting incidents reported earlier, suspects for 81 of these cases were classified under this category. If you have been suspect for 81 shooting incidents, who up to now, remain unidentified and at large, how safe would you feel??? You cannot simply expect witnesses to come out in the open to identify who and what they saw specially if they are aware that the suspects are still at large.

4.    In implementing the law, everything starts with law enforcement. If the law enforcer fails to perform their role by filling the necessary cases for violations of the law, then the entire process of dispensing justice will grind to a halt. The City Prosecutor’s Office will now have the cases to investigate and review and will not be able to forward any case to the Court who in turn cannot render judgment on a case. Without a court decision, criminals will remain free instead of being put in jail. In the end, all of us will suffer.

This is our present situation now.

We must collectively decide how to face this problem so that we can once again bring back order in the city.

We must be able to recommend a framework so that we can stop the criminality happening in the city.

This is our challenge for today’s summit