Vigilantes or Policemen: No Follow Up

Screengrab from Manila Bulletin

JEERS TO several media organizations for their failure to follow up the case of two policemen accused of murdering an anticrime crusader early this month.

On Oct. 9, two men on a motorcycle shot and killed Zenaida Luz, 51, in Gloria, Oriental Mindoro. Luz was the Regional Head of Citizens Crime Watch, a non-profit organization advocating citizen action against criminality. The assailants were cornered by the authorities and turned out to be ranking police officers. Their victim was laid to rest on Oct. 17.

Media reported the killing but did not follow up on the story which may point to the possibility of police participation in so-called “vigilante killings,” or at least in some of them. The Mindoro case also suggests that such killings may be carried out under police direction.

CMFR cheers some exception; The Philippine Daily Inquirer ran the editorial “Cops turned hitmen” on Oct. 18 which said that no police reports have been filed yet regarding the killing. Towards the end of the piece, it calls the nation’s chief executive and the chief of police to demonstrate their position on erring police officers: “Now is the time for Dela Rosa and the President to show their unforgiving hand: when law enforcers make a mockery of their vaunted anticrime stand by becoming lawbreakers themselves.” The Philippine Star and Manila Bulletin also had editorials on the matter. (“Vigilantes,” Star, Oct. 15, “This is no ordinary crime,” Bulletin, Oct. 20)

The alleged assailants are police officers disguised as “vigilantes” or hired assassins.  Such killings by vigilantes have reached 2,730 as of Oct. 14.  These facts should have provoked media’s zeal to get to the bottom of this scandalous case. Surely, the death of a citizen who fought against crime deserved more space and time than it received in the news. The case confronts the media with a challenge to pursue the story further and explore all the angles of the story. Media’s failure to investigate would suggest a lack of capacity as well as a reluctance to search out the inconvenient truths about the police and the role of its officers in the illegal drug trade, and perhaps, other crimes as well.

The truth in this case may justify the concern of those who have criticized the strategy to target the low-level culprits and users. Shouldn’t the policy have gone first after those who, holding power, betrayed public trust to profit from the evil trade in drugs?