Crime Rate Soars in Abra Essay

I.INTRODUCTION: As if living up to its moniker â€Å"murder capital of the north,† shooting incidents in Abra in the first quarter of 2011 have almost tripled compared to those recorded in the same period in 2010, an election year. Based on records from the Abra Provincial Police Office (Abra-PPO), there were 14 shooting incidents from January to March in 2010 as against 36 cases recorded from January to March 27 this year. Statistically, this means that at least one shooting incident takes place every three days in this northern province. a.) Backround Of The Study Abra is a landlocked province in northern Luzon, which is consistently listed among hotspots during elections because of intense political rivalry and the presence of private armies. The current number of shooting incidents the year 2012 is more than a third of the 102 recorded shooting incidents. b.)Objectives: †¢To help people see, especially the youngsters, the negative effects of doing crimes. †¢To help people realize that crimes does not only destroys one entity but the whole country. †¢To let them see our place will not be progressive if some people will continue to do crimes specially killings. c.)Review Of Related Literature: REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7659 Sec. 5.The penalty of death for parricide under Article 246 of the same Code is hereby restored, so that it shall read as follows: â€Å"Art. 246.Parricide. – Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child, whether legitimate of illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or descendants, or his spouse, shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punished by the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death.† Sec. 6.Article 248 of the same Code is hereby amended to read as follows: â€Å"Art. 248.Murder. – Any person who, not falling  within the provisions of Article 246 shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder and shall be punished by reclusion perpetua, to death if committed with any of the following attendant circumstances: Sec. 7.Article 255 of the same Code is hereby amended to read as follows: â€Å"Art. 255.Infanticide. – The penalty provided for parricide in Article 246 and for murder in Article 248 shall be imposed upon any person who shall kil l any child less than three days of age. If any crime penalized in this Article be committed by the mother of the child for the purpose of concealing her dishonor, she shall suffer the penalty of prision mayor in its medium and maximum periods, and if said crime be committed for the same purpose by the maternal grandparents or either of them, the penalty shall be reclusion temporal.† Sec. 12.Section 2 of Republic Act No. 7080 (An Act Defining and Penalizing the Crime of Plunder) is hereby amended to read as follows: â€Å"Sec. 2.Definition of the Crime of Plunder; Penalties. – Any public officer who, by himself or in connivance with members of his family, relatives by affinity or consanguinity, business associates, subordinates or other persons, amasses, accumulates or acquires ill-gotten wealth through a combination or series of overt criminal acts as described in Section 1 (d) hereof in the aggregate amount or total value of at least Fifty million pesos (P50,000,000.00) shall be guilty of the crime of plunde r and shall be punished by reclusion perpetua to death. Any person who participated with the said public officer in the commission of an offense contributing to the crime of plunder shall likewise be punished for such offense. In the imposition of penalties, the degree of participation and the attendance of mitigating and extenuating circumstances, as provided by the Revised Penal Code, shall be considered by the court. The court shall declare any and all ill-gotten wealth and their interests and other incomes and assets including the properties and shares of stocks derived from the deposit or investment thereof forfeited in favor of the State.† d.)Framework: I must admit that Bangued or Abra in general is not on the top list of the many tourist attractions in the Ilocos or Cordillera Regions. The number-one most probable culprit may be the fact that some local tourists still have the stigma about NPA and the prevalent crimes in the province. And if there  are local tourists around, expect that they are just visiting for some business matters in the town capital. That leads me to my second most probable culprit: purpose of travelling. â€Å"Why should I go and visit Abra? What would I do in Bangued?† are just two of the many questions of some tourists, both local and international. e.)Statement of the problem: CRIME IS An act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for which punishment is imposed upon conviction. Anywhere in the world is consider unsafe and dangerous. What makes a country, town or barangays even more dangerous and unsafe is when the politician themselves are busy killing each other instead of busy promoting peace and order in their respective area of assignment. Very sad to say this is the case with Bangued, Abra right now. At least here in Illinois our politicians are not at that situation yet and I hope, it will always be the case. f.)Hypothesis: I was born from Bangued, Abra and I am very disappointed to know and watch that my birthplace is becoming more of a killing fields. Abrenians are suffering because of these bad developments that our town is going through. Bad publicity doesn’t help at all when we are trying to promote our town as a good destination for tourist. It’s just very unsafe and dangerous place to be at right now. Politicians are busy killing each other instead of uniting for a better and prosperous Bangued, Abra. What a sad and proudless story to tell to our next generations. g.)Analysis: Shooting incidents have resulted in various crimes such as murder, homicide, frustrated murder, attempted murder and physical injury. It is not known if all shooting incidents have been documented by the Abra PNP. Early last year, several patients who sustained bullet wounds and checked in hospitals for treatment were not listed in police records. According to a short analysis in the Abra PNP report, the lower number of shooting incidents in 2010 was attributed to the Commission on Election’s (COMELEC) gun ban â€Å"implemented prior to the conduct of the National and Local Election.† â€Å"This  fact denotes that Total Gun Ban in the province is beneficial to the reduction of crimes committed with the use of firearms,† â€Å"Poverty and lack of job opportunities are the reasons why being a ‘hired killer’ has become a profession.†