Protect all of us

For us hoi polloi, it’s galling to see government officials bellyaching about the loss of their police bodyguards who are on the public payroll.

There are only 220,000 regular members of the Philippine National Police to guard about 100 million people. (The Philippine population is now over 119 million, but more than 12 million currently live and work overseas, and who can blame them?)

As estimated by PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, there is one cop for every 2,000 people in this country. The PNP has been aiming for one cop for every 500 people.

This isn’t going to happen when tens of thousands of government officials, from the highest levels down to the barangay, have cops assigned as their personal bodyguards.

It has become a VIP badge of sorts to have state security forces serving as personal bodyguards. The bigger the security contingent, the more important the person thinks he or she is.

With the Philippines having arguably the highest homicide rate in this part of the world, and people getting mugged and killed simply over cell phones, everyone worries about personal safety, whether in the street or in our homes.

Everyone is a taxpayer in this country, thanks to the value-added tax and excise taxes. A third of my income automatically goes to the state, and the earnings are not ill-gotten. Why do only a few people get special protection from the government? Is their life more precious than ours? Is their work more important? Who decides these matters?

Journalists, legal professionals, environmental defenders and other types of activists have been murdered with impunity. We don’t get police bodyguards.

Having cops and soldiers as personal bodyguards has become a status symbol for the entitled in this country, and an extension of the wang-wang mentality – the me-first attitude arising from the belief that one is more important than the rest of the world.

Are they the only anak ng Diyos? Are the rest of us children of a lesser God?

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The PNP provides protection to those with verified threats to their personal safety. This list should be drastically pruned, since every elective official and even losing candidate could claim such a threat.

Considering the level of political violence in this country and the ease of obtaining guns including high-powered sniper rifles, the threat could be real. But there are simply too many Filipinos facing a genuine death threat, and the PNP doesn’t have enough people to provide close-in security to each one of them.

The better way is to make much of the country as safe as possible for everyone, tighten and strictly enforce gun laws, and limit police / military bodyguard duty only to the president of the republic. The only other officials who deserve a tax-funded security contingent are those in the constitutional line of succession.

Even in this, however, officials have to be reasonable. Leni Robredo when she was vice president made do with only about 100 security officers working in shifts. It’s unconscionable that her successor wants a security team that can compete with the Presidential Security Command (PSC).

And it’s bratty to be whining about losing 75 police security personnel when one still has 320 assigned to an official who has so little to do she can afford to leave the country for a European vacation at the height of a major natural disaster. The public has not been told when Vice President Sara Duterte intends to return. Is it a top-secret national security matter, like her home address?

Several of those 75 cops, the VP groused, had been assigned to their family since 2007. Aren’t cops’ assignments supposed to be changed in every election?

The PSC in fact has members assigned to secure the VP, former presidents and their spouses as well as key Cabinet members.

Yesterday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said VP Sara’s security team is even larger than the PSC contingent assigned specifically to President Marcos – I guess referring to BBM’s close-in security.

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Since the VP is believed to be aiming for the presidency in 2028, it’s good for Filipinos to be able to scrutinize her character this early. VP Sara is Rodrigo Duterte redux – but only in terms of pugnacity and penchant for violence – without the father’s lethal charm, the wicked sense of humor and the natural mass appeal.

In July 2011 when she was Davao City mayor, Inday Sara had publicly slugged the city’s sheriff who was carrying out a court-issued demolition order. Sheriff Abe Andres was punched four times – in the left eye, the face and the back. Why didn’t the mayor end up in prison for physical injuries?

Now her younger brother Sebastian, the current mayor who is styling himself as Rodrigo Duterte 2.0, said he wanted to slap the regional police chief for reassigning Davao City cops.

Any self-respecting PNP member should feel offended by that threat, just as the national organization of court sheriffs should not forget what VP Sara did to Andres.

The Duterte siblings must be suffering from arrested development due to bad upbringing, and think anyone outside the family is their servant, or a stray dog they can kick around.

Three cheers for General Marbil, for refusing to be cowed. He should do more to rationalize the assignment of security personnel to other VIPs, including senators whining about the loss of their police escorts. Cops are nobody’s personal bodyguard, and certainly should not serve as part of a clan’s private army.

Last Wednesday, the word from Mindanao was that members of the Moro National Liberation Front and certain clan members were offering to serve as security for the VP. It’s unclear which MNLF faction made the offer.

She should accept the offer ASAP and let go of all her state-supplied security contingent. It will free up hundreds of cops to protect the general public instead of just one family.