Verzosa deserves break despite junket uproar

Too bad his subs’ Moscow junket spoiled Jesus Verzosa’s assumption as PNP boss. He started out so well, hitting the ground running and at once firing up patrolmen’s morale. It’s been some time since they had a top guy who, though a military academy grad, thinks like a cop. A long line of experienced administrators preceded him. Verzosa, a veteran investigator, is more the crime solver. He will have a relatively long tenure, up to 2010, enough time to lay down reforms. Expectedly he will focus on sharpening detective skills. His big plans for the service deserve a chance.

One of Verzosa’s priorities is for police stations to have investigators’ vans. These are 40-footer shipping containers converted as a sleuth’s on-site office and sleeping quarters. Fitted with evidence gathering gadgets, bunks and motorcycles, the vans would allow SOCOs (scene of crime officers) to stay in the field as long as needed. As a young detective, Verzosa often had to trek half a day to the remote barrio to interview witnesses and suspects. He knows how SOCOs feel in such situations: they want to wrap things up the soonest, before dark because they’re a long way off from headquarters. With a fully equipped mobile workplace, they can lodge to finish the job.

On Sept. 27, his first day as chief, Verzosa halted the parading of suspects before news cameras. Not only did the practice violate human rights, he doesn’t see it to help solve crime any. More important is steady retraining in new techniques and technologies. Crime fighting means not only solving homicides, robberies or rapes, but also preventing them. And there’s the matter of internal security, dealing with the festering communist insurgency and Moro secession. Verzosa intends to upgrade police skills for these basic concerns.

A recent survey listed the traits citizens want in cops: honest (not extortionate), godly (not abusive or even philandering), and dedicated (including quick to respond). Verzosa aims to fulfill these by instilling in the ranks a devotion to Archangel Michael, the patron saint of policemen. It might be prophetic that he took over the PNP on Michael’s feast day. Or, that the church he happened to visit for thanksgiving upon taking his oath of office before the President was San Miguel’s near Malacañang.

*      *      *

As protector of God’s realm, Archangel Michael is an apt patron saint of cops. Mi-ca-El means “Who is like unto God”; devotion to him would lift the police force. Michael is ecumenical. The Bible tells how he led the angels in vanquishing Lucifer, who tried to usurp the Heavenly Throne. He is mentioned in the Koran, which the Prophet Mohammad said was dictated to him by Archangel Gabriel. The Cow, the longest and most celebrated sura (chapter), states: “Who so is an enemy to God or to his angels, or to Gabriel, or to Michael, shall have God as his enemy.” The Jewish Tanakh says Michael held Moses’ hand throughout the trek of the Chosen People to the Promised Land.

Devotees know the power of the “Prayer to Saint Michael”. Officers should recite it by heart often:

“Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protector against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

*      *      *

Today simultaneous demos will be staged in key cities for a one-time, big-time fuel price rollback. Expectedly oil firms will claim it’s impossible.

STAR reader Dr. Louis Limjoco, who regularly drives from Lucena to Manila, knows they’re lying. He cites as example the price war in Sept. among filling stations in that capital of Quezon. A station that sells generic diesel slashed pump rates by P2.50 a liter, prompting competitors to follow suit. Stations of the Big 3 — Petron, Shell, Chevron — resorted to promos lest they lose customers. To the benefit of motorists and transporters, the price cuts spread to surrounding towns like Candelaria, and all the way to San Pablo City in Laguna. As a result, the provincial rates, usually higher than Manila’s, ended by P1.50 lower per liter.

*      *      *

Classic rockers like me feel left out that no radio station caters to our music. There’s rock n’ roll, disco and pop, but none dedicated to the tunes that gave the ’60-’90s bands like Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, and singers like Janis Joplin or Billy Joel, plus our own Joey Smith and Hotdog. To hear nonstop classic rock from around the world we have to log-on to i-Tunes Radio.

Fortunately in the club circuit there’s The Authority that plays exactly our songs. Led by Juan Miguel Salvador, they perform Thursday nights at Strumms on Jupiter Street, Makati, and Fridays at Conway’s Bar, Makati Shangri-la Hotel.

*      *      *

E-mail: [email protected]