P-Noy's turn to move

The bright horizon for Filipinos at the start of the year has become darker so soon because of the recent spate of bad news on certain events of the past weeks. Just as we are still reeling from the shock of that gruesome, senseless and impudent killings of Venson Evangelista and Emerson Lozano together with his employee Ernani Sencil perpetrated by car jackers, another shock wave hit the country when a mortar bomb was detonated inside a passenger bus right in the heart of the metropolis killing five innocent, unsuspecting people and injuring 13 others. Then a few days later the country was again jolted when 10 construction workers died in a fall from the 28th floor of a building under construction at the Makati central business district as the cables of an overloaded platform snapped. Over in Palawan, the crusading environmentalist and radio commentator, Dr. Gerry Ortega was brutally assassinated while another bus bombing was staged in Buluan, Maguindanao.

But perhaps a bigger “bombshell” was exploded right in the halls of the Senate when a retired lieutenant colonel made a surprise appearance and disclosed to our Senators and to the public the long held tradition in the military of giving millions of pesos of pasalubong and pabaon plus hefty monthly amounts to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff as well as to his subordinates including himself. The amounts, he said were taken from the “provision for command-directed activities or PCDA fund and “savings” from the personnel services budget of the military which are pooled for distribution to ranking officials and to others outside of the AFP.

It goes without saying that these corrupt practices, deaths, and destruction are due to the sense of lawlessness already creeping even in high places engendered by the ineffective or utter lack of the rule of law, and the culture of violence now prevailing in our society.

In fact, circulating now are various texts messages about “brods” in the PMA, PNP and law schools who are in power covering-up for each others’ crimes, as the cause of lawlessness. There is really some truth to this text messages as shown by the recent expose involving AFP generals and officers. This “raw information” coming straight from an insider who himself admitted being part of the “take” really makes any denial sounds hollow and unbelievable. And what about the various crimes of rape, murder, kidnapping attributed to PNP officers and men themselves? Or the perennial overloading that has been the cause of so many deaths at sea and on land? It is not really surprising any more that a sense of lawlessness engendered by the very officers of the law is being felt by law abiding citizens.

Another prevailing sentiment conveyed by text messages currently circulating is ineffective rule of law in this country as confirmed by the fact that coup plotters in the past got away with the crimes they committed in their failed coup attempts. They have not only been amnestied for the past misadventures that wrought so much damage to our country, but two of them are now Senators of the Republic while their boss is now the Senate President. This is apparently the prevailing public perception which those now in power should not ignore.

On the other hand, the deaths, killings and destruction now occurring in our country can be attributed primarily to the culture of violence that has taken roots in our land. Crimes are now committed with impunity. Significantly, most of these crimes are gun related. Statistics from the PNP show that from 2004 to 2008, 97.7% involved loose firearms, thus making the Philippines the 10th ranking in the gun-homicide crime rates worldwide.

Of course our present situation cannot be completely attributed to the 6 month old P-Noy administration. The sense of lawlessness now prevailing is undoubtedly due to the impunity with which laws are broken or disregarded in the past especially by those in power. The dominant culture of violence now in our midst has been planted way, way back.

But the present administration must take quick and decisive moves to prevent the dire situation from further deteriorating. Heads should now start to roll at the PNP that has not obviously been up to par in its main role of crime prevention and crime solution. Then it should also immediately harness and mobilize the government departments and agencies concerned to investigate the anomalies currently being unearthed and exposed, and prosecute those involved.

These moves, however, should not have any semblance of “grave digging” by limiting them to the wrongdoings of past administrations. P-Noy should not spare those in his administration whose public and private track records have already been exposed as tainted with corruption; and who have already been involved in shady deals contained in the proverbial “can of worms” that are now coming out. These officials should now resign or be politely told to do so. P-Noy should know them by now. These are P-Noy’s best moves to show the people that he is bent on treading the straight and narrow path (matuwid na daan).

But the most feasible and readily available move on the part of P-Noy is still in the elimination of the culture of violence mainly due to unimpeded use of firearms. Presently pending in the Lower House and the Senate are bills respectively entitled Citizens Protection Act of 2010 filed under the Referendum and Initiative Act by some NGOs and Senate bill 129 filed by Senator Franklin Drilon. Both bills primarily limit the possession of firearm and deadly weapons in public places only to those directly and primarily engaged in police, military and security services and in enforcing the law under strict and clearly defined guidelines. These bills have the same objective as the “Anti Deadly Weapons Act” certified as urgent by P-Noy’s beloved mother the late President Cory following the Eldon Maguan and Maureen Hultman murders 20 years ago.

The pending bills should now be consolidated and certified as urgent by P-Noy. And if it passed by Congress it will definitely: (1) reduce gun-related crimes; (2) assist the PNP and empower communities to fight crime and violence in the streets; (3) keep in jail gun-bearing criminals and insurgents; (4) end private armies; and (5) stop the proliferation of illegal firearms without impairing the rights of responsible and qualified citizens to keep licensed firearms at home and in sports clubs.

As in the game of Chess, it is now P-Noy’s turn to move. People are eagerly waiting with bated breath what he will do to erase this prevailing sense of lawlessness and culture of violence.

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