Unsettling

A lawyer was ambushed Tuesday early morning at the corner of EDSA and East Avenue in Quezon City. The SUV of Atty. Arjel Cabatbat was shot at by three men on two motorcycles. But the occupants fought back, firing at the assailants. When the SUV caught up with the two motorcycles, it ran over them. One of the suspects was killed, another survived and was caught, while the other got away. Surprise, surprise, the suspect who was killed turned out to be Police Officer 1 Mark Ayeras, based on his PNP ID.

This only confirms what many have known all along. That there are police officers who lend their services as hired killers. According to Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, QCPD director, PO1 Mark Ayeras has been AWOL from the PNP. If true, then apparently the lure of doubling his salary was not enough, opting instead to be involved in criminal activity. I doubt very much this was a legitimate operation. The fact that Ayeras was AWOL sort of absolves the PNP of any liability. But what kind of society is this if the police can be hired to kill civilians? How can one feel safe and protected, if those sworn to do that actually violate it?

What can be said about riding-in-tandem cases? What can be said about extrajudicial killings? How many riding-intandem ambushes or murders in the past year and a half involved a police officer, whether AWOL or not? When a policeman is AWOL, does it mean that he is out doing something like this? Does the PNP have a system to attempt to monitor those police officers who go on leave? Do they bother to know their whereabouts or their activities? At least if they disappear then red flags should be raised. Or does the PNP no longer care once a cop goes AWOL? Obviously PO1 Ayeras still carries himself around as a police officer if he still brings his ID with him. He probably flashes it around at his convenience. How could anyone know he was AWOL?

The lawyer suspects that a doctor may be behind his ambush. Atty. Cabatbat handled a case where the doctor was stripped of his professional license. While more evidence must be gathered to confirm suspicions and build a case, they do have a living suspect in custody. They may know more as he recuperates from his injuries. Apparently, Cabatbat has other cases that might merit looking into. But this incident is just unsettling. At a time when the PNP boasts of a decrease in crime because of the intense war on drugs, we have ambushes like this one. It would be interesting to see exactly what kind of crimes have indeed gone down, and what have exponentially gone up. I wager that drug-related crimes have gone down, but the murder rate has increased. It seems the PNP is so good at catching the poor involved in illegal drugs, but cannot see the evil in one of their own. Or do they?