After a long weekend that included the holidays for All Saints and All Souls, the city was surprised to learn that some criminal elements succeeded in holding up the roving personnel of the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Corporation who were collecting deposits accumulated during the 4-day long weekend from the Panganiban branch of Jollibee fastfood outlet. It is unfortunate that such an incident has become the most recent bead to the lengthening criminal incidents taking place along Panganiban Avenue.

        Just before the Peñafrancia festivities, the city was shaken by the shooting to death of a businessman on board a tricycle by a motorcycle rider near the waiting shed in front of St. Joseph School. It is unfortunate that such an incident took place along Panganiban Avenue.

        Moons ago the city was stunned by the news that some criminal elements entered the office of Willprint and took away with them the firm’s payroll money for that quincena. It is unfortunate that such an incident happened along Panganiban Avenue.

        Other incidents along Panganiban Avenue involving petty criminal acts could be found in the police blotter or have been “charged to experience” and these have become issues of concern for both law enforcers and the civil government as could be seen in the minutes of the Peace and Order Council of the City of Naga.

        Of the number of these felonies and of the petty ones, how many have been considered closed cases, we have no record. But these we know: this avenue named after one of Bikol’s finest heroes has become a zone for crooks and crime.

        We are confident that the civil officials of Naga are doing their best to check the growth of these criminal elements. We are confident that the officers and men of the current Naga City Police force, whose predecessors were once the pride of the City as they were the finest the force ever had, have their noses after any information or clue that can lead to the identity and arrest of these criminal elements. No amount of passing-the-buck-of-blame — from city officials to the police chief or vice versa — will solve the crime. Not even the temporary transfer of the regional police staff to Naga City will bring about the fast and easy resolutions of these cases. These movements are simply indications of their resolve — and for these we should be thankful, though still the criminals are on the loose.

        The felonies perpetrated along Panganiban Avenue have become an insult to the values that Jose Maria Panganiban once fought and died for. For in the naming of a street, we dedicate the street to the icon and what he stood for. Jose Maria Panganiban, known as the Filipino avenger, fought against racial discrimination while in search for knowledge and justice. The avenue named after him in Naga City is certainly becoming a hub for knowledge, what of the best schools in the city found along it — for commerce and justice, what of the establishments that have opened opportunities for employment, where workers are hopefully given fair and just wages.

        Along Jose Maria Panganiban Avenue lie varied and various establishments, showcasing how Naga started as a business-friendly city, though this mark has deeper impression along Magsaysay Avenue. But with criminal elements on the loose, with good men doing nothing but denouncing the mote on each other’s eye, any zone of commerce and knowledge could turn, with nary an effort, into a zone for crooks and crime.