Recently, robbers took away more than P600,000 in cash, ATM cards and cellular phones of employees inside the J & T Express Delivery Hub at Mc Arthur Drive, Brgy. Quintin Salas, Jaro, Iloilo City. They stormed the facility at around 7 o’clock in the evening just in time when the remaining employees are doing their inventory. The suspects wearing bonnets aimed handguns at the employees and went out with their heist on board a motorcycle.

The case is now under investigation. It is interesting to note that these suspects are not employees yet they know the activities inside the hub and they have the knowledge that during that time a huge amount of cash is available.

Mayor Jerry Treñas and Representative Jamjam Baronda both offered P100,000 each for any tipster who could point to the identity of the suspects. The police have collared one of the suspects in the person of John Mark Lebuna of Brgy. San Isidro, Jaro. As of press time, he has yet to identify the other persons involved in the crime.

There are two facts which cannot be denied though and these are clear violations committed by J&T or the management of the delivery hub which the city government and the police must take seriously if prevention of any crime is an equally significant factor in maintaining peace and order in the city.

One, the delivery hub has no security guard and another, it is operating without any closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera in place. Iloilo City has passed a local legislation that requires business establishments of such and imposes penalties for those who are found to be negligent. How come that the J&T Delivery Hub was allowed to operate without complying with such requirements?

The recent incident is not an eye opener but a clear indication that the city government and its departments in-charge of the implementation of such related ordinances failed to do their job or are not even doing their jobs.

The police can only react as much. Proper monitoring of compliance is important in this situation and it’s a job that must be done by those whom we are paying for our taxes. Reality is, the bad elements are always there waiting to prey on their next victim. If by any means they are not given an opportunity to do their crime, such robbery will not happen or could be easily foiled.

The city mayor then must not waste time in initiating two things in the light of this incident. One, immediately charge the management of the hub for its failure to comply with the law provided for by the city and second, fire without any hesitation his people tasked to monitor the compliance of such ordinances.

We can’t just always boast that Iloilo City is a safe place. We simply need to do our job.