Better to talk

Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Chief Debold Sinas said he is open to a dialogue with the group that calls itself Nagpakabanang Sugbuanon Alang sa Kinabuhi ug Hustisya (Nasukhu), a coalition of civic organizations and human rights groups.

That’s a cool response, actually, something that’s a good starting point in any effort to resolve a conflict. Being open to dialogue is a sign of one’s willingness not only to explain one’s side but also to listen to the other side. After all, the worry that the police are behind the recent spate of killings in Cebu is real.

Sinas’s offer should also get a positive response from Nasukhu. The openness to a dialogue should also be embraced by the other side if the goal is to start the process of conflict resolution. Still, this should not be limited to Nasukhu but to other groups and persons who worry about the killings here.

There is, for example, Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who still has to open the communication lines with Sinas and Cebu City Police Office Chief Royina Garma. Both the mayor and the law enforcers have a common concern, which is keeping the peace and the order in the city. That needs the cooperation of both.

Meanwhile, we hope that all these efforts won’t be derailed by President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent statement accusing the police and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) of being drug addicts. Hopefully, that shouldn’t spark another round of killings involving the police and PDEA agents here.

The previous high-profile killings, after all, involved high-ranking policemen and some PDEA agents, which could lead one to suspect those incidents were part of the campaign to purge the police organization of erring members. But a “purge” should not be equated with “execution,” the easy way of doing the purge.

We say “easy” because it sets aside painstaking investigation or evidence gathering, an important component of due process of law. It allows the police hierarchy to act as judge, jury and executioner at the same time. And it could eventually spark anarchy, like what happens to an organism that eats its own flesh.

In the end, there is no substitute for following the rule of law.