EDITORIAL - Let's graduate from hard-boiled eggs

The next round of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Cebu will start today and as part of the security preparations for the international event, an additional 2,000 policemen have been deployed to beef up local security forces. The same thing was done during the first round last month. This latest deployment of additional policemen gives way to the joke - mokusog na sab ang halin sa itlog ani.

The joke - admittedly a bad one, it must be said -- refers to the complaint of policemen deployed the last time that the meals they were provided consisted usually of a cup of rice, a pair of spring rolls, and a hard-boiled egg. The complaint caused a minor uproar in media over what may have happened to the budget for meals of the policemen, which was alleged to have been something like P500 per day per person.

If, as complained, the menu stated above was what the policemen had, or something not vastly different, then even at three times a day somebody would have made a killing. In fact, it would have been a double-killing because with meals like that you would be killing anyone from whom you expect so much for so little. To stand all day in the heat of the sun and stay mentally alert for potential trouble on nothing more than a starvation diet is torture.

And this does not even take into account the living conditions of the "imported" policemen, who had to sleep in hammocks inside hot and humid public schools and gymnasiums. That pride Cebuanos felt about the successful hosting of the first round of APEC meetings, a large part of which was the almost total absence of crimes and other untoward incidents, either involving delegates or the general populace, would not have been possible without the sacrifices of these policemen.

They, therefore, deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Their contribution to the overall effort to keep the APEC meetings a success ought to be recognized. It is not necessary to give them medals or citations. They are, after all, just doing their jobs, a job that they did extremely well, it may be added. It is enough that they be provided well.

It is not clear if by the time the controversy broke during the first round of the APEC meetings some rectifications had been made. Be that as it may, that is already water under the bridge. But lessons should be learned from that incident. Every safeguard must be ensured that the policemen tasked to do a very important job must be given their due.

Let us not shame ourselves before our guests. Let us bear in mind that the foreign delegates are no ordinary people. And while they may not want to comment or be involved in local affairs, it is held pretty certain that they are intelligent enough to notice everything that goes on -- including how our country treats its own policemen. The media, after all, will be watching. And the delegates know how to read the news.