The Philippine Online Chronicles

Last February, I was able to attend a no-holds barred blogger meet with Mike Defensor at his home in Quezon City.  As someone who lives in Quezon City, I'm very much interested with what Mike Defensor has to offer since he is running for mayor in this coming May 2010 elections.

I've been living in Q.C. for 19 years.  The problems that I've been seeing then and until now are:

• Street Children
• Blatant Robbing

I've been wishing for those problems to be resolved for the longest time, but I haven't seen any progress so far.  I see this happening in Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.  I myself have been a victim a couple of times now.

I once had both of my car's side mirror stolen while I was inside the car.  It was a bright Saturday afternoon.  I was stuck in traffic as always in Araneta Avenue.  To my shock, I saw two guys approaching my car, one on each side.  They quickly took my side mirror and ran away.  My car was right in the middle of traffic, with cars all around me AND with a traffic enforcer just a few meters away.  I honked my car like crazy but everyone just looked like it was just another movie/TV shoot.  To make things worse, that was only my 3rd day driving!  This is a common situation in E. Rodriguez, Araneta Avenue area.

Another situation that I also found myself in and along Araneta avenue once again was when one day, all of a sudden, in the area where no one was supposed to cross, a guy just ran in the middle of the street right in front of my car.  It was impossible for me not to hit him.  In just a matter of seconds, a group of drunk people gathered around my car.  I was so scared that I quickly locked the doors.  There were about 20 of them with sticks, like they were so ready to beat me up.  I sat inside my car crying out of fear.  After awhile, a police officer approached my car.  He assured me that he would protect me.  We then proceeded to the hospital, the officer included, to take care of the person that ran in front of my car and to tend to his possible injuries.

When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor said that the guy was drunk and told me to be careful with my situation and that the man had no injuries.  At the police station, I got the shock of my life when the guy's mom was asking for my cellphone number even after confirmation that the guy was safe w/ no injuries.  I asked why and she said, to my surprise, and in front of the police officer, that they had been doing this for a long time already in order to ask for money.  Hell, what is happening to our country?!?

I told Mike Defensor my experiences as well as my observation of street kids stealing truck materials at night.  I asked him if he gets voted as mayor of Quezon City, will he do anything about it?  If yes, then how?

Mike Defensor answered and even stood up for a moment while addressing my concerns.  He mentioned 3 factors that he will consider in this situation:

• Quezon City will adopt the Guiliani New York police setup wherein we already know the place, frequency & nature of crimes.  Crimes should be blottered in precincts as well as in the internet and it should be implemented in the city.
• Technology should really play a role in solving crimes in Quezon City.  Quezon City is the biggest city in the country and with that size, it's not easy to monitor.  We already know where the hotspots are & focus must be on those areas first.
• Actual reporting of crimes should be a focus as sometimes, they don't get reported.  Good accounting of crimes must also take place in order to know the true situation in Quezon City.

With the above factors in mind, the action plan that he is planning to implement are the ff.:

• Preventive - Use of technology like placing cameras in crime hotspots.  Places like Araneta avenue (which I called out) and at ATM machines.
• Address the Drug Problem - focus not only on the street dealers, but also the big dealers behind these pushers on the streets. The drug problem should be the biggest focus because "75% of crimes in Quezon city are either drug related or committed by those who take illegal drugs".

I know there are bigger problems that Quezon City is facing, but I think many of these problems are also related, and a peaceful city will play a big role in making Quezon City a better city to live in.  As a normal citizen, my experiences that I have mentioned are problems that I personally would want the government to address.  The question is, will Mike Defensor be able to address these sort of crimes, as well as the general crime problem in Quezon City?  Will his strategies to address the drug problem be effective enough?  And can he really implement these strategies?

Photo by author. Some Rights Reserved