Crimes and Rewards

Promising rewards for information significant for the capture of big time criminals is not new. However, it does not happen all the time. The PNP rarely offers rewards for information that can lead to the arrest of suspects, notorious or otherwise. In few instances, the victims’ relatives also gamble away a huge amount of money in exchange or vital information that can lead to the arrest of suspects and the resolution of the crimes.

The community is one of the pillars of the criminal justice system. Almost all theories of law enforcement and penology point to the importance of public participation in criminal investigation and prosecution. The preservation of order and public peace serves as the primary goal of law enforcement. The foundation and the ends of the criminal justice system lead to the people. However, because of the continuing failure of the system to assure people of fast and effective justice, public participation has given way to indifference and apathy. These in turn lead to the loss of the civic consciousness of the citizens.

Offering reward to induce public participation in criminal investigations shows the weak state of our law enforcement. It indicates the failure of the law enforcement agencies to do their job of putting suspects behind bars. As stated, it reflects the loss of the civic consciousness of the citizenry.  Material incentives have replaced the spirit of voluntarism which has been the foundation of sound public order.

Law enforcement authorities usually release a “Most Wanted” poster disclosing the bounty placed on the head of each suspect listed therein. Meanwhile, the National Internal Revenue Code states the instances where rewards maybe claimed by informers who tipped off the authorities about violations of the revenue code.

Since rewards cannot be promised in all instances, they also reflect the unequal treatment that government officials give to the cases pending before them. The case of a beautiful and rich young lady who was killed by unidentified suspects after her late night hang-out in Global City illustrates this point. The Las Pinas government has offered a P500, 000.00 rewards for any information that can lead to the identification and arrest of the suspects. Later, Malacanang raised the bounty to P2.5 million.  After the authorities announced the P2.5 million rewards for anyone who could provide information that may lead to the arrest of the suspects, somebody surrendered to the NBI and admitted that he was one of those who abducted and stabbed the victim.

Indeed, money works in mysterious ways. In another instance, a P10 million reward was offered by no less than the highest official of the Aquino administration for the arrest of the suspected mastermind of the pork barrel scam. The ploy seemed to work as the suspect surrendered to Malacanang officials immediately after the announcement of the unusually big bounty. Her lawyer reasoned out that people are out to kill or find her and surrendering to the President would pre-empt bounty hunters from finding her. Hers is a special case of course. In no other instance has any Philippine President offered money for information and the arrest of a suspected criminal. This was first in Philippine history.

Public moneys are usually used to pay informer’s rewards. Yet, not every victim is given this special treatment. Many heinous crimes remain unresolved for many years, if not for eternity, because they have not been given such special treatment. They have become cold cases because no hot moneys were put into them as bounties for their resolution. As in life, victims of heinous killings continue to suffer even after death because of poverty. Their deaths do not make them equal with others who lived and died in affluence. The institution of the living is not capable of giving them the treatment they would have in the afterlife. Yes, money works in mysterious ways. Unfortunately, it does work as such only for those who have it in the first place.