MICHAEL MEDINA
Online editor
OROQUIETA CITY--Perhaps sensing a slight gaffe in his measures, Gov. Loreto Ocampos announced the other week he has modified particular guidelines in his executive order granting incentives to civilians who arrest lawbreakers.
Ocampos, in his newly released Executive Order No. 04-09, cited the need to amend the guidelines of his reward system to further its effectiveness and push for more community participation in the fight against criminalities.
To recall, last September, the governor made public his crimestopper scheme of giving cash rewards for the capture, prosecution and detention of thieves, robbers, holduppers, homicidial killers, carnappers and snatchers. These acts carry a P10,000 reward.
In justifying his move, Ocampos said then: “With the rise of different forms of criminality in the cities of Ozamiz, Tangub and Oroquieta and in some municipalities, innovative measures are to be undertaken in order to contain the problem.”
Ocampos’ reward scheme includes other transgressions found in the revised penal code including illegal drugs or shabu pushing, which carries a P15,000 reward.
“The PNP cannot solve the problems alone. They have to be assisted and the first appropriate and immediate groups to do this are the members of the civilian volunteers organization (CVO),” Ocampos reasoned out.
An earlier tack was made by then Senate President Manuel “Manny” Villar in January 2006 when he suggested such a novel way of a reward system in solving crimes, including the creation of a crime database.
Villar, in his statement then, said that criminals are becoming more aggressive and cunning, employing more advanced strategies and weaponry.
“Thus, crime-busters should always outthink and outsmart them. In order to do this, police authorities need technical support as well as the general public’s full cooperation,” the senator said.
Villar has filed two senate bills for this. One is SB 599, which seeks to provide an effective method to identify and subdue lawbreakers by providing for a uniform reward system in the campaign against crime and lawlessness.
The other is SB 690, which seeks to establish a national crime database considering that identification of criminal elements is very essential to crime eradication.
Villar, in defending his bills, said he is alarmed over a survey made by Pulse Asia that said eight out of 10 Filipinos who have been victimized by criminals did not report the incidents and out of 180 victims, only 20 percent sought help from the police.
That is why such syatem is necessary, said Ocampos, as this encourages volunteerism and public involvement and community involvement is a major contribution in solving crimes.
“Community members of the barangay must work with their leaders and their CVOs. It has been proven by social research that people in the community who worked together have more chances of achieving peace compared to communities that don’t have public cooperation,” the governor stressed.
In stressing his amendments at present, Ocampos said that the Provincial Reward System would be limited only to members of the Civilian Volunteers Organizations.
Policemen and military personnel are exempted from receiving the incentive “considering that it is already their inherent function to run after and arrest criminals for the maintenance of peace and order,” he added.
The reward can be given only to the concerned CVO after he complies with the documentary requirements for its release—a certification from the concerned city or municipal police chief on the arrest of the criminal and another official recognition from the court proving the case was actually filed.
This paper was informed that Ocampos earlier included in his reward scheme the policemen who arrested the suspects in the Oroquieta City stick up where a copra buyer was robbed of some P300,000 in cash.
When asked if those policemen will be required to return the money given by Ocampos, a source from the Capitol said that there is no need “kay miagi na man to.”
So far, this paper learned that there were three CVOs who received Ocampos’ cash incentive.
To recall, it was in January 2006 too when Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog launched his reward system and offered hefty sum under his so-called “citizen’s arrest” program to combat the rampant cellphone snatching, carnapping and other criminalities in Ozamiz City.
Under Parojinog’s scheme, any person who could arrest a crime suspect and stand as witness in the prosecution would be given P10,000 for snatching, a whooping P20,000 for motorcycle carnapping and a cool P50,000 for carnapping of four-wheel vehicles.
“Ato gyod silang (those who could arrest suspects) pahinungdan kay dako kaayo ang ilang ikatabang nila sa ato. Kay kining mga tawhana (crime suspects), ug dili nato sila panghiposon, magsige lang nag sulod sa atong siyudad, magsinamok,” Parojinog said in explaining the rationale of the reward system.
The government allows citizen’s arrest in flagrante delicto cases. This means a civilian can arrest without warrant a crime suspect who is about to commit, in the process of committing, or has just a committed a crime and the arresting officer has personal knowledge that he committed the crime.
Flagrante delicto or caught-in-the-act cases do not need preliminary investigation for the determination of guilt before filing charges against the suspects in court.
Describing his new anti-crime approach as effective in addressing crimes, Parojinog said rewards await those who can recover the cellphone, or any snatched or stolen item, arrest the suspect and turn him over to the police.
The reward can be claimed after the preparation of the information sheet by the City Prosecutor’s Office.
This concept of fighting crimes, according to the mayor, was a result of their brainstorming on how to abate the worsening crime condition in Ozamiz amid the refusal of the victims to file charges against the suspects and the witnesses to testify in court.
Because of the lack of interest of the victims to file charges even if the suspects are identified and arrested, the mayor said bad elements come and go or are released after the prescribed period and continue committing crimes with impunity.
A crime suspect is released, depending on the gravity of his offense, if no case is filed against him after nine, 12 or 18 hours, otherwise the police could be charged with arbitrary detention.
This situation, according to Parojinog, can be corrected with the police and the one who effected the citizen’s arrest acting as the complainants if the victim refused to file charges against the suspect.
The fund for its implementation, he said, can be taken from Parojinog’s intelligence fund, 20% development fund, or from the peace and order fund of the city government.