I got a multitude of emailed responses to my article about how inutile the police have become in enforcing not only our Anti-Noise Ordinance but many other laws or ordinances, as well. It only proves that there is a serious lack of discipline within the ranks of the Philippine National Police (PNP). More so that just a few days ago, The Philippine Star came up with that front page report that the PNP is the most corrupt institution in the Philippines according to the latest Global Corruption Barometer of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI).
Transparency International apparently came up with a survey that showed that 69 percent of Filipinos believed that police personnel were corrupt, while 64 percent believed that public officials and civil servants were affected by corruption, while 58 percent had the same view on political parties.
On the other side of the coin, I was comforted by this same report that revealed that the media and religious institutions were perceived to be the least affected by corruption at 14 to 15 percent. And to think early in his regime, PNoy, through his allies in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), tried to paint our bishops as corrupt, which was not true!
There's more. A total of 56 percent of the respondents believed that the Judiciary was corrupt, while 52 percent believed that the Legislature was corrupt. Allow me to declare it here that if PNoy did not use his presidential power to withhold or release the so-called Priority Development Assistance Fund a.k.a. pork barrel, we would not be arguing about the unconstitutionality of the Reproductive Health (RH) Law before the Supreme Court.
What does all this tell us? That despite the political slogan of Pres. Benigno “PNoy†Aquino, III, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,†the last three years under his leadership was still wracked with corruption in all levels in the Philippine government. If we ask the President about his Porsche, none of his Malacañang spokesmen would give us a straight answer. This is proof of his zero transparency.
So what really went wrong here? For starters, the Presidency is the most powerful figure in Philippine politics and when people talk openly about his “KKK†or Kaklase, Kaibigan or Kabarilan, it means that there's a special bunch of people who are considered to be “sacred cows†of the Aquino regime and therefore “untouchable.â€
Today, whenever PNoy talks about his “daang matuwid,†he sounds like the boy who cried wolf! If he put PNP officers who have his confidence, why then can they not let their police officers apprehend simple offenses, like the anti-noise ordinance? Again it can only mean a serious break down of discipline within the ranks of the PNP.
Our barangay leaders, too, can't do anything about the anti-noise ordinance because they are scared to lose the next barangay elections, which is coming very soon. Allow me to ram home my point from a faithful reader who wrote me about this problem… although he has requested me to keep his name anonymous.
“Sir Bobit… This is a problem that no gov't official wants to bother with due to potential lost voters but so many are fed up with the few spoiling it for the majority and at the same time breaking the law. We live in the City Lights Gardens complex, which is in Barangay Apas. Many foreigners, professionals, businessmen & retirees have invested large sums of money and time in making their unit a home from home in the hope of having peace & tranquility?
We all respect the culture during fiesta time & expect noise to be present but not when it goes on for 24-48 hours at a time or even during non-fiesta time when discorals belt out songs as loud as the volume switch can go. Sadly, this barangay captain has encouraged more informal settlers into his barangay. Residents of our complex have complained directly to him about the increased noise but sadly he has done nothing because barangay elections are coming up, hence the huge increase in these settlers which means votes for him.
The noise levels have increased especially on weekends, which has increased two or three fold & as we are high up, sounds tend to travel upwards & bounce off the buildings so much that we have to resort to having our A/Cs on full blast to try to drown out the noise at nighttime. PNP are not even visible in this part of the city. Some of the residents have sold up & left the complex due to the noise & inaction of the gov't agencies.
The noise has sparked a marked increase in flight of investors, retirees who have spent a lot of their savings & have had no choice but to leave the country because of inaction and no enforcement of the laws. We're still here because we like the place, but we are frustrated that this barangay captain and the city government are doing nothing especially even if we are paying our realty taxes on time. Thanks for keeping my name anonymous.â€
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Email: vsbobita@gmail.com