Corine Jasper D.

Caracas 2012-60281

An Unusual Invitation

UP Diliman has given out an invitation, an invitation that any offender

would like to have, an invitation to steal. In the afternoon of February 1,

2012, a crime was committed inside the walls of Vinzons Hall. A UP student

was left in a bloody and almost lifeless state after being robbed and stabbed

in the head by men pretending to be applying for a booth in the upcoming UP

Fair (Limon). This is just one of the numerous theft and robbery cases that

happen in UP, specifically in the Diliman campus more often than not. But

why do these crimes happen in a place which is supposed to be a safe place

for people, especially for the students in the campus?

Crimes happen almost everywhere at any time and the UPD campus is

not an exception. In fact, theft and robbery cases happen a lot in the

campus. According to an article by Brucal in the Philippine Collegian, the

number of crimes that happen in the campus rise by 10% every year. A total

of 107 from 97 cases were recorded from 2009 to 2010, showing a 10.3%

increase. By 2011, 127 cases were recorded or 17.6% increase compared to

2010. Theft was reported to be the number one in the list of cases recorded

with 271 cases in the past three years. This year 2012, 28 cases were

already recorded from January to March. This includes the case of UP student

Lordei Hina who was robbed and attacked last February. Another notable
incident was the robbery heist that happened last November 2008 which left

3 people dead (Autencio).

There are even students who passed the UPCAT but refused to enter

UP because they did not feel safe. There are parents who do not want their

children to go to UP because of the different crimes committed inside the

campus they watch in the news. Parents who would do anything to prevent

their children from harm would not just send their children to a school where

these children could be robbed, assaulted, or at worst be killed. Parents

would of course prioritize the safety of their children than the quality of

education these children would get. This just proves that theft and robbery

are major problems that need to be addressed.

According to a theory, a crime occurs because of the presence of three

factors: an available and suitable target; a motivated offender; and no

authority figure to prevent the crime from happening. (qtd. in Cohen and

Felson). Here in UP Diliman, the surveillance is not very effective. The police

force is understaffed and most security guards serve only as gate keepers.

According to the data provided by the UP Diliman Police Department

presented in Brucals article, as of August 1, 2012, there are only 339

security personnel in UP, 42 of which are police officers, 246 are security

guards and 51 are officials of the Security Services Brigade. Compared to

around 120,000 people who enter and leave the campus, the number of

security personnel is very small and is obviously not enough to keep the
campus a safe place to stay. True enough, police officers are rarely seen

inside the campus. A whole day or week can pass by wherein a student will

not see any sign of police officers anywhere. No one will be there to help a

student in need whenever he/she gets robbed and the absence of police

officers in sight makes the students feel unsecured. This problem, as Brucal

observes, is because the retired police officers are not being replaced. No

one would like to take over the job because of the low salary of P15,138 per

month which is just half of the normal salary of a police inspector in PNP.

As for the security guards in the campus, one can only see them near

the gates of different buildings checking the students IDs. Consider Lordeis

case, if only there was guard roaming around the building, there would have

been a slight chance that her scream was heard which would alarm the

guards, preventing her from being stabbed and hurt. Unfortunately, the

guards just stay there most of the time not knowing that a crime may be

happening inside the building that they are supposedly guarding against

people with bad intentions.

Another problem cited by the UPDP in the said article, is that they are

already lacking in equipment like radios and also police cars. Most of them

are old and nearly broken that they can be of no use to the UPDP.

The reason why these things happen according to several articles is

because of budget cuts. Atty. Dulay insists in his article that the direct cause

of the dwindling number of security personnel is the budget cuts for

Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) which went down to P13

million from last years P82 million. Limon also pointed out in his article that

budget cuts really have a direct effect on the security in the campus.

According to his article, this year, the government only allotted one-third or

P5.54 billion out of the P17 billion that UP needs.

It is seen in the previous paragraphs that security in the campus is

very loose which gives a motivated offender a reason to commit theft or

robbery. Now that security is not much of a problem for the offender, the

next factor is the target. There are so many possible targets in UPD, not only

students but also instructors, professors, visitors, etc. that reach up to

120,000 in number every day. And in most places, a lot of people are so

engaged in their own activities especially during Hell Week where the

students are so engrossed in reviewing for their exams and cramming their

requirements causing them to be vulnerable making it easier for the

offender/criminal to seize his/her chance.

There is however, another reason why crimes occur according to

Morta. This is accessibility or how easy it is to reach a target. An article from

GMA News says that one of the reasons or factors why these kinds of crimes

happen a lot in UP is because of its accessibility. UP is called an open

campus. It is open to everyone. Everyone can enter and leave the campus

without being checked or anything. Drivers licenses are not even asked to

be surrendered. It has even been said that UPD is vulnerable (Padua).

Comments from former Mayor Belmonte which says that UP is very porous

and that there is a deficiency in the system and comments from then

QCPD chief Senior Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula that (It has) no wall,

no gate so any kind of people can enter (the university),can be found in the

same article by Padua. This makes it quite easy for a criminal to commit

crimes in UP. He/she can easily enter the campus unsuspected, commit a

crime and leave the campus like nothing has happened. The school wont

even know that a criminal has already entered the campus and committed a

crime until it is reported.

Another reason is that anyone running from the law can easily blend in

here in the campus especially in the part where informal settlers live.

Criminals can run to those areas and stay there and hide. The police wont be

able to suspect that person because they will think that he/she is just one of

those living in that area (GMA News).

Another flaw is the schools rule: No ID, No Entry, which according to

Limon has been pointed out by students as a measure that cannot address

the security needs of the university. Atty. Dulay has also insisted that this

policy is practically useless. Students can enter a building without having

to show his/her ID to the guard. Outsiders can even enter some buildings

freely without signing in the logbook because some guards just let them

pass. One of these outsiders may not just want to visit the school but may

also have some bad intentions. This makes a lot of buildings vulnerable to
attacks. As soon as an offender enters the building, the security guard

cannot monitor his/her actions anymore.

Jeepneys also provide criminals easy access to their targets. Even

though the campus is quite large, it is very easy for an offender to transfer

from one building or to escape by riding the numerous jeepneys that roam

around the campus. Imagine sitting in a jeepney not knowing that the person

beside you is a thief. Imagine how scared you would be. Criminals can reach

targets with ease without having to walk a long distance unlike in other

schools like Ateneo where the only means of transportation are private

vehicles, a few tricycles and by foot.

From what has been reported, UP has given motivated offenders

numerous reasons for them to commit crimes in the campus from the loose

security, to the huge number of targets, and the campuss accessibility, it is

quite easy for offenders to commit crimes here compared to other campuses

nearby. Its like UP has been inviting offenders to enter UP and commit theft

and robbery. And these types of people dont resist these opportunities; they

grab it whenever they can.

Theft and robbery can happen in the campus quite often as long as the

administration and the government dont do anything about it. There will be

more cases of robberies, more gadgets lost, more victims hurt and more lives

at stake. Fortunately, the administration has done measures to strengthen

up the security. They have plans to increase the number of guards and fill up
the vacant positions by 2016. They have also allocated a bigger portion of

the budget to buy CCTVs and other equipment to help ensure the security

inside the campus. There are more police officers seen in the campus and

the guards in the buildings have taken some time to roam the buildings that

they are guarding.

The safety of everyone in the campus should be a priority of the

administration and they should keep thinking of plans on how to upgrade the

security until the invitation to steal disappears and the campus is safe from

motivated offenders.

Works Cited

Autencio, Kristel. Robbery at UP Diliman latest in series of bloody heists.

POC, 11 Nov. 2008, Web. 7 Dec. 2012

Brucal, Iyanah Camille. Bilang ng krimen sa UPD, tumataas kada taon: 28 na

krimen naitala sa unang 3 buwan ng 2012. Philippine Collegian, 90.8

(2012) Print.

Castro, Jun; Hermosa, Nathaniel and Morta, Alice. Examining Accessibility in

the Occurrence of Campus Crime 9-10 (2009) Print.

Cohen, L. and Felson M. Social change and crime rate trends: a routine

activity approach, American Sociological Review, 44, (1979) 588-605.

Print.

Atty. Dulay, Dodo. Is anyone safe in UP? Manila Times, 25 Feb. 2012, Print.

Limon, Victor Gregor. UPD to tighten security on campus after the robbery

incident; Student attack in USC office still in critical condition.

Philippine Collegian, 89.25 (2012) Print.

Limon, Victor Gregor. UP Student attacked in USC office. Philippine

Collegian, 1 Feb. 2012, Web. 7 Dec. 2012

Padua, Reinir. Robbers kill 3 in UP Diliman heist. The Philippine Star, 11

Nov. 2008, Web. 7 Dec. 2012

UP Diliman crime and safety map: Too much public access?, GMA News,12

June 2012, Web, 7 Dec. 2012.