Slaughter of Innocents

 Not until today that Chief Supt. Felizardo Serapio, regional police director in Central Mindanao , had he been reported to have express alarm to the continuing “vigilante killings” in General Santos City. It reported that 26 people have already been summarily executed there, ten in March; ten in April and six on May, and counting…

While Chief Supt. Serapio has given instruction to his men on what they have done so far into resolving these killings, there were no mention that the General Santos City Police Office (GSCPO) police there had long before already in fact impliedly considers these case “isolated” or had already been solved.

When this pattern of vigilante killing began to emerge by early March 2008, the local police chief, Senior Supt. Robert Po, and the city’s mayor, Pedro Acharon Jr., had already concluded who are responsible but strangely made no arrest. They, too, have shown little interest seriously dealing with these cases.

While Supt. Po claimed this systematic murders were isolated cases, Mayor Acharon too concluded the murder victims had been executed by their own colleagues–repeating the police’ supposed findings. Thus, impliedly saying that there’s nothing the community should worry for.

However, when this pattern began to emerge, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in Hong Kong had already express serious concern over Supt. Po and Mayor Acharon’s handling of these cases. It also urge them to recant the public statements they have had; and to ensure each of these cases are investigated.

Three months on though, no substantial progress had been made; and vigilante killings continuously takes place. Victims are no longer criminal suspects alone, but even those who had no involvement nor history of criminal records at all, which baffles the police who are used into concluding only criminals are targeted.

What is happening in the city is that, when the basic notion or foundation of law enforcement had been deliberately made not to function, the loss of human lives had become inevitable, as it is happening there now.

Without protection, too, no witness would ever come out in open to expose what he/she knows.