White picket fences

  Many times have I been asked by foreign visitors as to why we have such high walls surrounding our homes, as opposed to the quaint, white picket fences that most US homes are enclosed in. Some walls are even adorned with concertina wire or spikes. Those who cannot afford it use broken pieces of glass cemented on the top edge as deterrents to those who would think of scaling these walls. Some walls would give some castles, even those on the silver screen such as Helm’s Deep and Minas Tirith a run for their money, with sentries to boot. My explanation has always been the same, crime.

 Over the years, the country has not really improved on its crime rate statistics. Some crimes decrease in occurrence while others are on the rise, maintaining the rate, as it were. With the advent of CCTV and with more and more establishments and homes installing them, the public sees first hand how crimes take place, to the surprise of many! Take for instance, the robbery of a bakery by an apparently deranged man. He viciously attacks the lone female employee of the bakery after which he robs the store of its sales. Only the tenacity of the woman prevented a clean escape by the vermin. Since then, bakeries have resorted to closing their steel grates while conducting business. A bit disconcerting if not annoying, if you were a tourist wanting to buy some bread. Like buying some sort of contraband from a seedy source!

 But this is the society in which we live. Nobody in his right mind would just install a white picket fence in an unsecured residential area. It may look nice, but bereft of any kind of defense against the dark forces that are always amongst us. It really all boils down to what the PNP has to do, that is to have more men serving and protecting.

 It does not help at all when would-be applicants are already caught cheating on examinations! More than 380 applicants were disqualified for at least three years from applying as cadets at the Philippine National Police Academy after it was discovered that their test results revealed the same pattern of mistakes and correct answers, indicating that they were fed with answers to pass the test! If you ask me, they should be barred for life from applying anywhere in government service!

 We are a long way from a crime rate comparable to that of New Zealand, Australia or Switzerland. With the kind of culture we have, and the kind of economy we don’t have, I don’t see the cold, hard, high walls being torn down to give way to the peaceful looking picket fences we see in magazines and movies.

We can only hope to see them, that is.