Militarization Is Bad For Business

Sending the Marines to the shopping malls is a bad idea. It is bad for business. I don't know that the situation in the malls has deteriorated to the point that we must send the Marines to provide security. I think this will send a bad signal to investors who will interpret the presence of the military in a very civilian environment as an admission of political instability.

Perhaps the gambit was resorted to by Ping Lacson in desperation. He has given up on the police force. He wants to undertake a massive firing of the bad eggs but civil service rules stand in his way. He wants to produce positive results quickly and this short cut seems convenient.

Or maybe, the Erap administration wants to test our tolerance of military presence in our midst. Start with a few Marines at the malls and before you know it, there will be military armored vehicles at critical corners. Maybe Marines in battle gear directing traffic on Edsa is what it will take to discipline those bus drivers. But that may still be taking it too far.

Then there is the question of constitutionality. I thought the Constitution mandated a separation of functions between the police and the military. The police was supposed to take care of internal peace and order to include even the insurgency situation. The military is supposed to deal with external aggression.

Ping Lacson told me he resorted to the Marines because he does not have enough policemen to raise the level of police visibility in relatively high crime areas. But I find it difficult to picture a Marine going after a pickpocket at the malls, unless more serious crimes are happening there that we are not being told about. Or maybe, given that our armed forces can't handle external aggression anyway given their antiquated weaponry, maybe we should just absorb them in the civilian PNP.

In fairness to Ping, the Marines scored big in their first day at the NAIA. He also assured that the Marines are under the command of a task force that is headed by a civilian police officer, General Aglipay. And these are not the battlefront Marines fresh from Mindanao. These are the Metro based Marines who were pulled out from such jobs as providing security to the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In that sense, Ping may be right about using the Marines more productively by pulling them out from Congress. But if the Erap administration wants to project an image of political stability, the Marines gambit is a mistake. Imagine a CNN video report showing the Marines at Mega Mall. Or at the Glorietta. The announcer could even be saying that embattled President Estrada, suffering a devastating slump in the opinion polls, has called out the Marines. That is definitely a propaganda disaster unless, as I have said, the point is to make us used to the sight of military forces in purely civilian situations.

We've been there before and it is no place to be.

Now that the public relations aspect of beefing up Erap's popularity is over and done with, the administration must now focus its attention on the meat of what is to be done. In a word, we are talking infrastructure. Even FVR, who prides in his being a civil engineer, failed to make a real impact in the matter of putting vital infrastructure in place. FVR's flagship projects were not accomplished.

Now it is Erap's turn. If we want to be part of the global economic community in a significant way, we must have vital infrastructure in place. The situation today is such that you can be anywhere in the world and still be able to effectively manage your business if the right infrastructure is in place.

If we want to graduate from our current status as a third world city, Metro Manila must start with a world class airport. Unfortunately, the NAIA Terminal 3 project seems to be stalled. Government seems unable to decide what to do with it.

That is a real pity because the present NAIA is a shame. The fact the Marines were able to bag quite a number of shady characters there during their first day of duty proves that NAIA management is either inept or in cahoots with the criminal elements. If President Erap wants to show his mettle, he can start at NAIA. Investors are turned off the moment they step off their planes because that is one hell of a poor excuse of an airport.

Then there is telecommunications. The situation is not as bad here because the private sector has started to invest heavily in this sector. However, the fast pace of development in this high technology sector has left our legal and regulatory frameworks behind. If we are to keep pace with the rest of world, government must address the sector's emerging requirements.

Of course there is the usual problem with the high cost of domestic shipping that has stymied trade among our various regions. We also have not kept pace with other countryside infrastructure requirements. Robert Aventajado, the flagship projects chief of Erap, has his work cut out for him. He needs to work double time.

In the latest James Bond movie, Agent 007 wore this blue tinted eyeglasses in a casino so he can see who among the burly bodyguards carried guns hidden in their clothing. He saw the guns alright, and he also saw more interesting parts of the female anatomy as his eyeglasses gave him the ability to see just beyond a person's clothing.

We fantasized about this kind of X-ray vision in our adolescence. Looks like this bit of science fiction is now close to reality. Jokemaster Ernie Espiritu sent me this bit of information about how some American airports are using surveillance devices pretty close to this James Bond dream vision. I haven't fully verified the story, but it is something to think about next time you pass an airport check point. Here is Ernie's report.

Are you planning a vacation and/or business trip and flying through Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or Atlanta's airports? With a recent upgrade to the airports security scanning devices, a little more than your luggage may be scanned for contraband.

The Customs Service has installed new scanners to the tune of $125,000 each. These hand-held scanners are just a little different in the fact that they can easily outline various body parts on men and women.

The scanners display an image, which can be enlarged or shrunk, as the operator sees fit. A spokesperson for the scanner company stated, "The system has a joy-stick driven zoom option that allows the operator to enlarge portions of the image."

The ACLU is fighting the new scanners, citing true invasion of privacy, as the scanners can show "underneath clothing and with clarity, breasts or a penis, and the relative dimensions of each..."

(Overheard at the security office, "Hey, Sam! Check out this carry-on bag!" wink, wink)

(Boo Chanco's e-mail address is [email protected])