DAVAO CITY -- This city’s residents are not concerned about the
threat posed by a group of gunmen on motorcycles targeting criminals as
they are with burglars, according to an independent local survey.
The University of Mindanao’s Institute of Public Opinion, which polled 1,150 respondents in three congressional districts last May, noted that the so called Davao Death Squad ranked ninth in the list of threats to residents.
The survey, titled “Do you feel safe in Davao City?,” asked respondents on what threatens them the most, where do they feel most secure, and whom will they call in time of emergency. The vigilante squad ranked ninth in terms of threat.
Davao City has about 1.5 million residents, the most populous urban center outside Metro Manila.
Maria Linda B. Arquiza, head of the Institute, said the results can be interpreted in two ways: either Davaoeños accept that the extrajudicial killing of criminals is for the greater good, or they don’t believe that the group exists.
Another possible reason is that the gunmen only target criminals, she added.
Based on the survey, the respondents are most scared about burglars, who topped the list with a score of 52.7%, followed by snatchers at 47.6% and drug addicts at 44.9%. Other criminal elements that ranked higher than the death squad are gang members, rapists, robbers and riding-in-tandem criminals, or robbers in motorcycles.
Terrorists ranked seventh even if there has not been an incident in Davao City since 2005 when a bus terminal was attacked in the infamous Valentine’s Day bombing. In 2003, the waiting shed of the old airport and the passenger waiting area of the Sasa Wharf were also bombed, killing at least 40 people in all.
Davao City’s peaceful reputation was preceded by years of bloody street executions during the 1980s when communist hit squads killed soldiers and known government sympathizers with impunity. This gave rise to the formation of the “Alsa Masa” movement, which targeted rebels and their families, earning the city the moniker “killing fields.”
When then mayor and now Vice-Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte took over, he cleaned the streets using colorful language and an iron-fisted implementation of the law. Over the years, men on motorcycles prowled the streets shooting drug pushers and criminals. Mr. Duterte has repeatedly denied having a hand on the killings.
Meanwhile, nearly half of the respondents believed that the peace and order situation improved in the last two years while two in 10 believed that it worsened.
They also feel safest when they are inside their homes (94.95%), followed by churches which scored 90.35%, while about 70% said they are not afraid walking on the streets although they don’t feel as safe when going to bars, shopping malls, public markets and parks.
The region’s Commission on Human Rights (CHR-11) reports vigilante killings in the city started in the early 1990s when two bodies with alleged criminal records were found in the city’s Buhangin district.
The Davao Death Squad was coined by the media to describe a group of vigilantes that supposedly exists to clean the city streets of criminals.
In December 2007, United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston prepared a scathing report of Davao City’s extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, particularly Mr. Duterte’s helplessness in running after the reported death squads gunning down suspected criminals.
In 2010, the CHR, then chaired by Leila M. de Lima, now Justice secretary, conducted a series of public hearings on the summary executions in Davao City. -- J. B. Escovilla
The University of Mindanao’s Institute of Public Opinion, which polled 1,150 respondents in three congressional districts last May, noted that the so called Davao Death Squad ranked ninth in the list of threats to residents.
The survey, titled “Do you feel safe in Davao City?,” asked respondents on what threatens them the most, where do they feel most secure, and whom will they call in time of emergency. The vigilante squad ranked ninth in terms of threat.
Davao City has about 1.5 million residents, the most populous urban center outside Metro Manila.
Maria Linda B. Arquiza, head of the Institute, said the results can be interpreted in two ways: either Davaoeños accept that the extrajudicial killing of criminals is for the greater good, or they don’t believe that the group exists.
Another possible reason is that the gunmen only target criminals, she added.
Based on the survey, the respondents are most scared about burglars, who topped the list with a score of 52.7%, followed by snatchers at 47.6% and drug addicts at 44.9%. Other criminal elements that ranked higher than the death squad are gang members, rapists, robbers and riding-in-tandem criminals, or robbers in motorcycles.
Terrorists ranked seventh even if there has not been an incident in Davao City since 2005 when a bus terminal was attacked in the infamous Valentine’s Day bombing. In 2003, the waiting shed of the old airport and the passenger waiting area of the Sasa Wharf were also bombed, killing at least 40 people in all.
Davao City’s peaceful reputation was preceded by years of bloody street executions during the 1980s when communist hit squads killed soldiers and known government sympathizers with impunity. This gave rise to the formation of the “Alsa Masa” movement, which targeted rebels and their families, earning the city the moniker “killing fields.”
When then mayor and now Vice-Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte took over, he cleaned the streets using colorful language and an iron-fisted implementation of the law. Over the years, men on motorcycles prowled the streets shooting drug pushers and criminals. Mr. Duterte has repeatedly denied having a hand on the killings.
Meanwhile, nearly half of the respondents believed that the peace and order situation improved in the last two years while two in 10 believed that it worsened.
They also feel safest when they are inside their homes (94.95%), followed by churches which scored 90.35%, while about 70% said they are not afraid walking on the streets although they don’t feel as safe when going to bars, shopping malls, public markets and parks.
The region’s Commission on Human Rights (CHR-11) reports vigilante killings in the city started in the early 1990s when two bodies with alleged criminal records were found in the city’s Buhangin district.
The Davao Death Squad was coined by the media to describe a group of vigilantes that supposedly exists to clean the city streets of criminals.
In December 2007, United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston prepared a scathing report of Davao City’s extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, particularly Mr. Duterte’s helplessness in running after the reported death squads gunning down suspected criminals.
In 2010, the CHR, then chaired by Leila M. de Lima, now Justice secretary, conducted a series of public hearings on the summary executions in Davao City. -- J. B. Escovilla
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=Davaoe%C3%B1os-list-burglary-as-most-feared-crime&id=55094
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