Showing posts with label #kidnapping-for-ransom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #kidnapping-for-ransom. Show all posts

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Let's not condemn the PNP yet

"I have no hatred for cops. I have hatred for racists and brutal people, but not necessarily the cops. The cops are just doing what they're told to do." -- ICE T

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- We can't blame the families of victims of police brutality. Their hatred toward our law enforcers is only a microcosm of a sick society's macrocosm.
Which explains why our national police force is once again on the brink of total destruction. 
And our cops have low morale now that calls to abolish the Philippine National Police (PNP) are loudly girdling like Hercules' wrath.
If we have family members, neighbors or friends who are connected with the PNP, let's give them moral support.
Let's not crucify them yet; let's not treat them like dregs. 
The likes of Sta. Isabel and Dumlao, among other principal accused in the slaughter of a Korean trader, are only rats in a house. 

NOT ALL

Not all those who live in the house are rats. 
Not all members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) are hoodlums and scalawags. 
When we want to get rid of rats, we either use a mouse trap or Dora rat killer and Racumin. We don't burn the entire house.
We don't abolish the PNP only because some cops are dishonest and criminals. All paradise have their own shares of serpents. All forests are infested with snakes.
Even the church is not clean. There are rascal priests and cardinals of ill repute. Some saints in heaven have ugly past. 
We still believe that majority of the PNP's 160,000 personnel are dedicated, sincere, hard-working, and trustworthy. 
It's not fair to flush the entire organization down the toilet only because of a few feces.

GOOD

We know a lot of good, courteous and well-mannered PNP personnel in Western Visayas where we grew up. 
Many of these cops --men and women -- are content with their salary and regard their uniform with pride and glory. They come from respectable, religious and honorable families. 
Everywhere in the Philippines we can still meet cops who are proud to wear their uniform and are not distracted by the negative tag alluded the organization as a result of shenanigans committed by a handful.
Anywhere in the Philippines we can still hear stories of heroism and acts of valor committed by our cops that are not given prominent media attention either because they shun publicity and choose to remain anonymous, or we in the media are only guilty of negligence and indifference for our failure to give importance to these great deeds by our maligned cops.

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Iloilo dads should get their hands off 'Bato' case

"There are three major social issues that this country is struggling with: education, poverty, and drugs. Two of them we talk about, and one of them we don't."
-- Steven Soderbergh

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- The night before the Iloilo City Council in the Philippines unanimously passed a resolution in its regular session on January 30 "urging" Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa to stay put, President Rodrigo Duterte announced in a haste press conference in Manila that he had rejected Dela Rosa's resignation.
Had Duterte let Bato go and announced it in the press conference on January 29, the Iloilo City councilors would have nothing to "urge" from the top cop in as far as his stint in the PNP was concerned.
Either proponents would revise the resolution from "urging Bato not to resign" or to "urging President Duterte to reinstate Bato." 
Or they would forget about the Bato resolution and remove it from the regular session's agenda.

NECESSARY

Was the Bato resolution, penned by Councilor Joshua Alim, necessary?
It may be wise and symptomatic but not necessary, to say the least.
As a national figure, Bato has been the subject of intense discussions in the House of Representatives with some solons calling for his resignation in the light of the kidnapping and murder of a Korean businessman perpetrated by policemen inside the Camp Crame.
Newspapers, news websites, TV networks have been tackling issues about Bato. Even during the Miss Universe Pageant, Bato was among the "top grossers" in the news and social media.
Bato's fate is too broad for a local legislature like the Iloilo City Council.
Too many cooks will spoil the broth.
Instead of joining the fray in complicated national issues, the city council will look good and earn more pogi points if it will instead focus on local issues.

DINAGYANG

Like an "urgent" resolution commending government agencies, city and provincial officials, private individuals, participating schools,  sponsors, choreographers, among other unsung heroes responsible for the successful staging of the just-concluded 2017 Dinagyang Festival. 
There's a myriad of socio-economic, health, business, education, political and environmental issues that affect the life of local populace.
More pressing issues like the success or failure of smoking ban on public places, malnutrition and housing programs in villages, the reported increase in number of AIDS, murder, and rape cases.
The Department of Tourism's (DOT) efforts to push for chartered flights between Taiwan and the Iloilo International Airport in the town of Cabatuan, Paraw Regatta 2017 preparations, Iloilo City's aim to become "City of Excellence", real estate boom, investment and business expansion and opportunities, among other local issues.
Meanwhile, if there was one thing significant about the Gen. Bato Dela Rosa resolution, it was the city council's avowed display of solidarity behind the Duterte administration's "strong campaign against illegal drugs and criminalities."