Crime Season

The Christmas season, which informally begins in the country after the All Saints’ Day observance at the start of November, is very well both the best and worst time in the country.

The best because somehow the air becomes festive, what with all the decor and holiday tunes. The worst because it highlights the need for — and lack of — finances for the majority, possibly why the crime rate customarily shoots up as the Christmas holidays draw near.

Petty theft, robberies and car-jacking, for example, become all too common. In the 1990s, kidnapping too was commonly reported in media, not to mention the numerous unreported cases.

Into the new century, kidnapping, mercifully, went on a downtrend.

Here in Pangasinan, the last kidnapping incident that hogged front pages was way back in 2001 involving businessman Charlie Ngo, owner of the Star Plaza Hotel in Dagupan City. Then kidnap-for-ransom groups seemed to have been brought under control, though credit does not exactly go to the police authorities. Until a KFR gang struck again two weeks ago.

Mr. Rosendo So, chairman of the Eastern Pangasinan Chinese-Filipino Chamber of Commerce, issued a strongly-worded statement that, among other things, condemns the kidnapping that involved two young girls.

Mr. So said KFR operations are an “illegal and immoral activity that results in deep psychological and emotional wounds on the victims and their families.” Unknown to many, Mr. So’s family has been fallen victim as one unreported kidnapping case involved a relative.

Many cases go unreported because there is a general feeling of skepticism among victims, usually from the Filipino-Chinese business community, towards police authorities and their ability to possibly save the kidnapped unharmed.

That the most recent kidnapping happened on a day Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. was himself in Pangasinan does not bode well for the police force’s image, credibility and ability, particularly that of the province headed by Senior Superintendent Isagani Nerez.

Christmas or not, KFRs, and all other crimes for that matter, need to be put in check.

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